This Is My Fate
by hangingwillow
Summary: Having trained illegally for the Hunger Games since the age of eight, Jasmine has readied herself for the bloody battle held annually by the Capitol. But what happens when the all-ready girl is reaped along with her boyfriend of three years? COMPLETED - SEQUEL COMING SOON :)
1. Chapter 1

_Hey guys!  
>I'm a diehard fan of the amazing Hunger Games so I decided to write my own version of the story. It's nothing in relation to the actual trilogy, I have only taken the whole Hunger Games concept and wrote a completely new Games out of it.<em>

**Please note that the first few chapters are long and slow. It's all just background character building. If you want to dive right into the games, then please start at Chapter Five. I prefer for you to start from the beginning though.**

_As much as I'd like to claim this brilliant concept of a story to be my own; I do not own it and it belongs solely to the amazing author of the Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins._

_I hope you guys like it! :)_

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><p>"Sometimes when I close my eyes, I see two paths in the distance. I believe fate will always lead me down the correct path, no matter the circumstances."<br>- Jasmine Kouch

Having trained illegally for the Hunger Games since the young age of eight, Jasmine has readied herself for the bloody battle held annually by the Capitol. Taking advantage of her already-wanting-to-enter the games attitude, she takes out tesserae for her friend Sera, who is not as fortunate as she is. And so, when the 71st Hunger Games arrives when Jasmine is 17- her name will be handwritten neatly on a total seventy slips in the reaping ball this year.

Will fate bring Jasmine to her knees or will she emerge victorious?

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><p><strong>Chapter One<strong>

Cloudless sky, calm waters. Today brought on the most perfect day weather wise, as I stepped around on my rocky wooden paddle boat hooked onto the pier. It was probably around six in the morning; the normal fisherman's first catch is usually at this time of day, so every minute I waste setting up means another fish in another person's net. Just as I had everything ready to set off for four good hours of morning fishing, Danny jumped on, rocking my boat furiously- both metaphorically and literally speaking.

"Heading off without me?" He questioned, holding two fishing rods and a little container of bait and various other items. I motioned him to pull off the rope keeping the boat at the pier and as he released it, the boat started drifting away. I grabbed a paddle, handed him one too; and began paddling out into the open water.

"Staying for long?" I asked him. Stupid question, I can't exactly just drop him off into an endless abyss of water now.

"Reaping is at one. I think we have time." He stopped paddling and just as I turned around to yell at him for making me do all the work, he pulled me into a kiss. I softened on the spot and felt vulnerable. Pulling away, I looked into his green eyes and melted into them. Danny has been my boyfriend for a total three years, which is kind of funny since our relationship started out as a joke.

"All the fishies are swimming away, Danny." I mumbled.

"That's alright. I think the Capitol can spare one day without their Omega 3." He chuckled lightly. "Besides, there are plenty more fishermen to provide for them."

"Yeah, but these fishermen don't provide me my money. The Capitol does." I exclaimed. He sighed and threw the net over the side of the boat. Connecting it to the side, he left it dangling. I grabbed one of his fishing rods and began setting it up, putting some squid on the end of the hook. With the thrust of my arm, the string flew fifteen meters away, landing with a plop when it made contact with the water. "I'm going to volunteer this year." Danny stared at me.

"You can't. What happens… if you don't make it out?" He pulled a frown. "Not saying you don't have a chance. You've been training for the games ever since you were eight."

"I know I can win. I really feel like this year is my year, you know what I mean? Besides, this is the second last year I can volunteer for it. Unless I'm lucky and my name gets drawn in the reaping anyway."

The hunger games are an event that was created by the Capitol to remind all the districts of the Dark Days, and the uprising that occurred must never be repeated. You are enrolled at the age of 12, whether you liked it or not, where your name is entered into the reaping once. At 13, your name is entered twice, and so on until you have seven slips of your name at 18. However, there is this system where you can take out tesserae- which are a portion of grain and oil for a year for one person in exchange for another slip with your name on it added to the pool of people's names at the reaping.

My district, district 4 weren't particularly poor and since this district specialized in fishing, my family got by eating fish no one wanted to buy. This really only occurred if I caught a fish that was too small, or simply inedible. That's why; I caught small fish on purpose quite often. However, since I was a believer of fate, I took out tesserae anyway in the dozens saying to myself that if it was my year to shine, my name will be pulled out of that little glass ball.

"Jasmine, think about what you're doing. If your name doesn't called pulled out at the reaping, maybe it means you're not ready."

"And what if my name gets pulled out huh?" I questioned a bit harshly. "I took out eight tesserae each year; so I'll probably get chosen. I wonder every year why my name hadn't been pulled out. There are seventy slips with my name on it now." Danny's expression was baffled. I would've continued arguing with him until I felt a tug at the end of my line. I pulled my fishing rod upwards and tugged at it whilst reeling the line. Feeling the second tug, I pulled my fishing rod up hard again and reeled in faster. Danny didn't even bother looking at me during this time because I was already a professional at fishing. I didn't need anyone's help.

A large trout came into view, frolicking in the water trying to get away from the hook that was deeply skewered into its mouth. Pulling it up onto the boat, I took my cloth and held the trout down with my left hand. It was probably around 50cm long and would easily feed my family for days. Knowing the Capitol however, they would snag up the opportunity to do something fancy with this catch. I unhooked the trout as it lay on the boat gasping for air, hyperventilating frantically. I threw it into our large white bucket and it began to swim around again. I put the lid back on top, securing it, re-baited my line and threw it back in.

Danny and I sat in silence, twiddling our thumbs almost. Nothing seemed to want to bite anytime soon so Danny busied himself checking the net. He pulled it up and there trapped in it was around seventeen trout all gasping for air. He just simply let them all slide into the bucket, my poor 50cm one now probably feeling a bit claustrophobic. Danny gazed at me, as I pretended not to know.

"…If I asked you not to volunteer, would you do it for me?" He asked almost silently, his head bent down, fixated to the floor of the boat.

"…I…" I started, hesitating. I trained so hard for the games though. Like he had mentioned, I began training at the age of 8, even though it was illegal. I readied myself, familiarizing myself with throwing knives, spears, poles, maces, axes, even a bow if I had one. I wasn't really good at using bows. I was always better off knocking my opponent out by throwing the bow at their head and then throwing the arrows at them just like javelin. Basically put, I am good at throwing things. "I don't know…"

"Please, Jasmine." He pleaded. "If you are spared another year at the reaping, although it sounds unlikely, please just promise me not to volunteer."

"Fine, alright." I said flatly. Danny took a huge sigh of relief and kissed me on the forehead. I smiled bitterly at him and we continued fishing.

As midday hit, Danny and I packed up and headed back to the pier where we docked the boat. Danny carried the bucket of fish we caught to the fish market where my dad was setting up his set of catches for the morning in our own small stall.

"Forty three trout, two leather jackets. Forty five in total." Dad said, without looking up at me. "Great catch this morning." I felt myself light up inside.

"Thirty seven trout, eight leather jackets…" I paused. My dad looked up at me, his eyes widening. "And the odd catfish. Forty six in total. Beat you." I smirked.

"Danny helped you. That didn't count." He whimpered, clinging onto his fishing rod. It was a beauty that rod, always seemed to catch fish even without bait.

"I didn't ask him to. Besides, you said '_I bet you my magic rod that I can catch more fish than you._' Didn't you dad? Huh?" I lunged forward for that rod as he held onto it protectively, moving it out of my grasp by a few centimeters. "Come on dad! Deal's a deal! I said I would give up Danny if I lost!"

"What? You used me as a bet?" Danny said, frowning.

"We won anyway, who cares." I said blatantly.

Danny ruffled his ashy bronze hair and stared at me in disbelief. I sighed and pecked him on the lips before he could say anything. This just infuriated dad more. You see, it's not like my dad doesn't like Danny or anything, he just doesn't like the fact that I have a boyfriend at seventeen. He thinks that I'm still too young and not mature enough.

"Come on, let's go have a bath and get ready for the reaping." I said, looking at Danny, pulling on his arm. Danny handed dad the bucket of fish and took my hand before walking out of the fish market.

"You two aren't allowed in the bath together." Dad grunted. Danny looked at me and wriggled his eyebrows jokingly as I punched him in the arm.

"Don't even think about it."

"Aww."

I took a quick cold bath before changing into my reaping attire, consisting of a simple canary yellow dress and some white sandals. I brushed my hair and tied it to the side just when Danny gave seven knocks in a musical sequence. It was our way of telling each other that we were at the door.

"You done?" He called.

"Yeah, you can come in." I said. He walked inside wearing a loose pastel green t-shirt and some cotton three quarter pants.

"Hello beautiful." He said, kissing me on the lips. I bet you all this kissing is just to make sure I don't volunteer. Danny was eighteen and this was his final reaping, so he seemed pretty happy. He had the minimum number of slips with his name on it for his age because his family is good at trading and always managed to catch a good amount of fish earning them enough food to keep their family going.

Since I was the only child in my family, my mother and father never really needed to bother so much about food so much since there was only one other mouth to feed other than themselves. District 4's peacekeepers also weren't that strict in terms of food, as long as the Capitol had a healthy supply of their fish and they didn't complain, they were off our backs.

Taking his hand, Danny and I walked into Market Square, the largest space in all of District 4. It is a large square – hence the name – with little fruit and fish stalls surrounding it. The left side always smelt so fishy, because all the fish stalls were on that side and the right side always had a nice fruit punch smell to it. It was also traditionally the place where the reaping began for our district till this day, seventy hunger games later.

People were already filing in and we were amongst the last to arrive, so we had one last parting kiss before separating into the crowd to sign in and stand among all the people our age. I was pretty confident, so whether or not I get into the games this year, I didn't really care. I had promised Danny that I wouldn't volunteer, and after all that kissing I guess I won't. He really loves me after all.

Every year there is this woman named Rierri Locksloph who does the reaping and this year she sported a ravishing red dress which was puffy at the bottom, with tall red high heels sparkling with an clutter of diamonds and make up so heavily caked onto her face you could barely see the real her under all of it.

My friend Sera from school made her way next to me, nervously trying to hope that she doesn't get chosen. Sera's family weren't that rich because their dad never seemed to be able to catch any fish. The upsetting thing is it's not even because he chooses the wrong spot, or that he can't hook or choose his bait properly. It's simply a case of bad luck.

Sera's dad and I went fishing once in the same boat, using the same bait and I caught dozens upon dozens of fish whereas he didn't catch a single one. When I thought that I just happened to catch all of the fish, I watched him without having my rod in the water and it was as if the fish just decided they weren't hungry for bait anymore. I tried thinking of other ways why he couldn't catch fish, and showed him with his own fishing rod and I caught several fish on his own rod. When he got his rod back he was confident that he would catch his own fish, but once again all the fish suddenly weren't hungry. After a week, he gave up and made do growing fruit in his backyard.

Part of the reason why every year I took out eight tesserae each year was not only because I wanted to be a part of the games, but also because I gave Sera's family the tesserae to feed their family of four with twice the amount of grain and oil.

"Nice dress." Sera trembled.

"Thanks. You look great yourself." I replied.

"Jasmine I –"

"Happy Hunger games!" Rierri began, cutting Sera off. I looked forward at the lady standing on a small stage, with her face enlarged on the massive television above her. "It is time to select two brave and strong young teenagers with the great honor of representing District 4 in this year's 71st Hunger games!"

Applause broke out in the crowd. I smirked, laughing at sadistic crowd in my head. She then began the normal ritual of talking about the dark days, and how the Capitol holds the Hunger Games to remind all twelve remaining districts that they have the power to make every one of us fall to our knees.

On my left, closer to the fish markets stood Danny, looking at me longingly. _Don't volunteer, please. _He mouthed, pleadingly. _I won't. _I mouthed back before he gave me a satisfied smile and turned his head back around to listen to Rierri's repetitive speech.

"Ladies first! And may the odds ever be in your favor!" She screamed, plunging her hand into the thousands of slips in the glass ball. _Please be my name, _I thought. _So all my hard work in training will pay off. _However, my thoughts were suddenly conflicted. Not seeing Danny for up to a month at best – and that's if I get out of the arena alive. Then there was Sera, who I hoped wouldn't have her name drawn because her family struggles enough already.

Then when Rierri pulls out the slip and unravels it, I knew I didn't have to worry about Sera. She only has six slips with her name of it in there. The odds are completely in her favor. That's why I'm not surprised when one of my seventy slips reaches the hands of the reaper herself.

"Our female tribute, Jasmine Kouch!" She exclaims in her high pitched voice. I step forward, laughing to myself. This is my year to shine. My father and mother stand in the crowd hugging each other, distraught with the news. Their only child was going to be pitted with twenty three other kids my age in a fight to the death.

Of course, my parents don't know about my training. They don't know that I can even do anything with a knife apart from cut a fish's head off and scale it.

I remember the only reason why I trained was because it was around the time a female tribute from our district had won and was doing speeches about the games at school. The way she talked seemed… so proud. I wanted to feel it, the sense of being proud of some sort of achievement. The only thing I can be proud of is being able to catch fish. Oh and singing. I sing loud and proud, even though people usually tend to tell me to shut up.

"Would anyone like to volunteer?" She asks the crowd. I see Sera from the corner of my eye so hurt that I was picked. She's probably blaming herself right now. "Alright then, moving on!"

Her hand dived into the other glass ball of all the guy's names. Looking at the crowd, Danny was fixated on the fact that I was chosen, even though I didn't even volunteer. He doesn't even seem to care about whether his name was going to be picked out next. But he should be, because that's the name Rierri reads out.

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><p><em><strong>This is only the first chapter of many chapters to come - it is a steady and slow process (because I'm in my senior year this year) and after my term holidays are over, my updates will be even slower. However, I thoroughly enjoy writing this fanfic so expect it completed sometime in the future!<br>**_

_**Please review my fanfic! Any feedback will be appreciated!**_

_**Also, aside from the actual chapters I have included a separate page just to discuss reasons about particular choices I have made in my fanfic. So, read that also! Thanks!  
><strong>_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

What were the chances? I probably would've been able to stomach the fact that I might've had to kill one of my classmates, or maybe my next door neighbor, but why did it have to be my boyfriend? I wanted him at home, looking after his two younger twin sisters whom were not old enough to be in the reaping yet or continuing to help my dad catch the morning lot of fish without me there to help him. Danny stood there stunned, unable to walk forward. He robotically forced his way forward after a few seconds, his eyes fixed on mine.

Fate definitely doesn't like me right now.

"Your tributes for district 4! Danny Perr and Jasmine Kouch!" The crowd just stared at us, silent. Some people clapped, only to be held down by the people who knew us. They were absolutely shocked. Everyone knows that Danny and I were together. We were the happy couple of the district. Famous for the reasons we got together in the first place. "Well, that's it! So much to do, so little time!"

Next thing I know, Danny and I were thrown into separate rooms in District 4's Justice Building- every district has one- where we were given only a couple of minutes to see our loved ones before we said our possible final goodbyes.

I knew myself that I wanted to be a part of the games, but I never wanted Danny to be a part of it. I did it because I knew I could, because I trained so hard to make sure I'd get out of it alive- but to get out of this alive now means Danny won't. Damn, fate sucks.

The first to see me were my parents, they were already tearing up and hugging me non-stop. My mother couldn't bear to look at me, thinking that I won't make it out alive.

"Mum it's alright. Maybe we'll be put into an arena where the only bit of solid ground is in a sinking dingy with water surrounding us with no food but fish to catch." I said sarcastically, knowing that this will never happen. It won't provide entertainment to the Capitol whatsoever. It's too boring of a concept.

My dad looked at me with sorrowful eyes. "I thought that… if your mum and I only had one child, it'd be OK, because we would make sure our child wouldn't have to take out any tesserae." Oops, sorry dad, I took out some. Sixty Four of them. "Yet we still find ourselves having to be in this situation!" His voice rose and his hand turned into a fist, ready to smack something hard.

"It's OK dad, I learnt about what plants are edible at school. I also know what type of game I'm able to eat too. I should be fine, I'm not dumb either." My dad didn't seem satisfied. The look he gave me is the one that he gave me when I introduced Danny to him the first time.

"What about Danny?" He asked. "You know you're going to have to kill him, right?" Great, thanks dad for reminding me.

"Dad that thought never left my mind. I know that we might have to face that scenario, but I think I want to take it when the time comes. There's twenty four of us though and someone is bound to take him out first, if not it's going to be me. I just hope, that one of us will make it back alive, dad." My dad didn't believe me. He knew how much I loved Danny. And how much Danny loved me. Knowing us, we'd probably not want to come home without the other one holding their hand. "Dad, please. Just make sure you and mum are OK. Look after my little wooden boat. Help me make sure Sera's family is eating. Make sure she's not missing me too much. Make sure _you're _not missing me too much."

By now, mum was in tears and wouldn't let go of me. Her black hair fell in front of her face, dripping wet with her tears. When the peacekeepers came through the doors to escort my parents out, my parents wouldn't leave my arms until they began dragging them out. Just before they exited the doors, they looked back at me smiling and waving at them bitterly.

The next to come in was Sera, whose face was already wet with tears. When she opened her arms out wide, I walked into them embracing her warmth.

"You and Danny have to find a way to win." She whispered.

"We can't, Sera." She choked and her tears began rolling again. She's knows I'm right. "One person only ever comes out. There has never been in the history of the games where more than one person comes out."

"I know… I know…" Her tears were really falling now. Sera's grip on me was probably even tighter than my parents and sometimes I wonder why she wasn't born as my sister. "Wear this then, okay?"

I recognized the character that was on the necklace she handed to me. It was from an ancient language called Mandarin before Panem rose. There was a place named China which pretty much made everything and their national language was Mandarin. The character I recall from history class back when we were younger said 'male'.

She reached into her pocket and held out another necklace with the character 'female' on it. "I'm giving you the male one, and the female one to Dan. So, you'll always have each other, no matter where you are in the arena." She took the two characters and put them together. "When the female and male characters are put together, it makes the character 'okay'. So, when you two are together, you'll be okay." I now could feel the tears welling up inside of me. I clasped her hands with my own and nodded.

"T-thanks." I stuttered in between sobs. "This will mean a lot. To the both of us." She gave me one last hug before leaving the building.

Sitting on the couch that I finally realized was extremely comfortable, I leant back and looked up at the engravings in the roof. There was a very intricate sun carved out, with many stars surrounding it. People on boats were fishing on calm water, their buckets full of trout.

I started to doubt my confidence in returning and thought that this morning would've been the last time I ever fish in my life. My little wooden boat, bopping away on the water attached to the pier- the magic rod that my dad never gave me although he shook on the bet- the times I spent with Danny fishing hours on end- these things may never happen again.

Just as I looked back down towards the door, a group of people stood there, silently watching me. They were all people I knew- either from school, from the market or from just simply walking around the district. When they noticed I was looking at them looking at me, they shuffled forward as Sera's father stepped forward.

"Jasmine. We know we're not completely significant people in your life, well we're more like passing faces, but we want you to know we have full faith in you. We'll make sure one of you gets out of there alive." Everyone nodded in agreement, grimly attempting to pull reassuring smiles. I thanked them and I gave each of them a light hug.

"If you really want to sponsor us, please send it to Danny. He's more responsible and if I'm nearby he'll know how to portion it evenly." I lied. I didn't want to tell them that I had trained for the games and that I thought I knew more than Danny- which I kind of do, but only because of the fact that I studied and practiced for this day. I would probably be able to last without food from sponsors a lot longer than him- and I wanted so much that if I don't get out of there alive- it'd be Danny.

"Alright Jasmine. We'll suggest it, but it all depends on your mentor. They're the one that sends you the sponsorships." With a nod, the crowd left the building silently.

Rierri escorted both Danny and I into a small car that headed to the train station. I leant on Danny's shoulder and hugged him with his arm wrapped protectively around me. His hand combed through my hair as I listened to his chest rise and fall, his heart pounding nervously. Rierri was obviously a little ticked off with our relationship as she spluttered out a heap of nonsense that I didn't even bother to listen to.

All that I cared about at this very moment- at this very time was being with my boyfriend and savoring every last minute with him.

At the train station we were greeted with a flurry of reporters and cameras, all focused on Danny and I hand in hand giving each other reassuring looks before stepping onto the flashy looking train. No one in the districts ever got onto one of these unless they were exporting to the Capitol. The inside was amazing- full of fancy furniture made out of expensive materials. On the table laid out before us was an array of exquisite delicacies that even we at District 4 could not afford or even be able to plate up at home. Danny ushered me in first as we sat down and stared blankly at the food in front of us. I don't know why but we dared not to eat it, not because we thought it was poisoned or anything but more because of the fact that we needed some time to take all of it in.

Rierri gracefully placed herself down with a plop onto the cushiony chair opposite us and motioned us to start eating. Danny and I were still a bit uncertain as she took one of the scones from a small silver plate and smothered jam and some cream on top before taking a generous bite out of it. Dabbing her mouth with the tablecloth, she rolled her eyes.

"Darlings, there is no point for the Capitol to poison their tributes before the games." She said, clearly a bit offended with our discontentment.

"Danny." I whispered softly, clutching onto his left hand. As if woken up from a dream, he grabbed some grapes from the very far right of the table and stuffed them into his mouth. "Ooh, get me some grapes too!" I squealed as his hand cupped my cheek and kissed me full on the mouth. I felt something coming from his mouth and as he pulled away, I bit into it realizing it was a grape. I chuckled girlishly and thanked him.

"That's disgusting." Rierri muttered, finishing the rest of the scone. Her eyes were fixated on the both of us as she dusted herself off. "I'm going to find your mentors. I'm hoping you won't make them want to find a brown paper bag." Danny and I couldn't help but laugh. It felt a bit strange, laughing at a time like this when we both know that deep down inside, we're dreading the future that's waiting for us.

Seven people walked through the cabin doors, all completely different from one another. These seven were all victors from previous hunger games and it was their job to mentor tributes in the forthcoming games.

I could recognize almost all of them immediately. There was Mags, a lady who won the games in the first decade it started. She was probably around seventy or eighty by now and seemed pretty weak in terms of physical health.

Finnick Odair, a handsome young man that won the 65th Hunger Games and was now at the age of nineteen. He won due to his good looks and after he was sent a parachute holding a trident in it, the game was his.

The girl standing next to him looked almost crazy; her eyes shooting left to right, flinching at any sudden sounds.

"Annie Cresta." Danny whispered in my ear. "She won last year because there was a flood and she could swim the best. Apparently her district partner was decapitated in front of her eyes and I guess the nightmares don't stop coming after the games are over." I shuddered.

I hope that even if I win, I can still dream about nice things. Like owning my own proper boat one day, with an actual motor and no man power. Yeah, that'd be nice.

Shanty, a girl in her mid twenties was the one that came to my school when I was eight and did the speech. She seemed to be able to plow through all the nightmares and all the bad memories of people dying and focus on the good things. She was the reason why I trained so hard for this day. Shanty was not necessarily a strong tribute, but rather a smart one. Before the games even began, she made alliances with a lot of the other tributes without the other ones knowing. So, when she was hanging with the other Career tributes a boy from District 10 helped her kill them when they were sleeping. That was their prearranged strategy. Right after the cannon signaled their deaths, she easily stabbed him with a spear and went on her merry way to slaughter the remaining tributes.

The other three victors were all forty or older, so I didn't really know who they were. I just recognized them mentoring in previous years.

"Danny, Jasmine. My name is Sandh and I'd like to personally congratulate you both." Sandh was around forty with grey hair and chocolate dark skin. He had a very warming smile and very butler type features.

"Sand…heh?"

"Sand-dah." He corrected. "There's two of you and seven of us. I don't think it's necessary to have all seven of us to mentor you so choose one mentor each." I scanned the seven of them, like choosing the best fruit out of a pile.

"Finnick." Danny said. "I need you to teach me some actual skills. I'm lacking a bit." Finnick stepped forward and promised Danny that he'd do the best job possible while I continued to stand there and inspect my fruit.

"I don't even know why I was thinking for so long. I choose Shanty." I exclaimed. I need Shanty for some good tactics and some smart thinking. I'm all action with no thought behind it so hopefully she'll be able to think up of something for my situation.

"Alright then. We'll stay with you guys until you're in the arena but after that, your life will be in Finnick and Shanty's hands." Sandh said. All of them except for Finnick and Shanty left for their cabins while they stayed back and sat down with us.

"You're the little girl from that class in school aren't you Jasmine?" Shanty suddenly said. "You asked the most questions."

"Yeah, I was eight." I said.

"So let's get started. Even though you guys technically chose the both of us for your own purposes, would you like to be trained together or separately?" Shanty asked. Danny and I didn't even have to look at each other before we both agreed that training together was best. We didn't mention that we were a couple, although they may already know from seeing us around in the district. "Alright then, well if you have questions about anything, I guess it's best to ask them now since we can't exactly train until we reach the Capitol. For strategies though, we can try devise them now."

"So what should I do in terms of alliances in the arena Finnick?" Danny asked.

"With your looks, you'll have no problem flirting with all the girls. Make them absolutely fall in love with _you._" Finnick said in a seducing voice. Danny flinched slightly in his chair and shook his head furiously.

"I've got a girlfriend!" He blurted out. Finnick chuckled.

"No matter, you're probably as good as dead anyway. Even if you do win, she'll forgive you won't she?" Yeah, Finnick has absolutely no idea that I'm his girlfriend. However, the whole idea of flirting with other girls didn't seem to bother me one bit. It's a strategy after all.

"I'm sure your girlfriend won't mind." I teased. Danny looked at me and whined.

"But Jasmine–"

"I've been wondering for awhile now. You two seem to know each other pretty well. What's your relationship?" Shanty asked.

"_She's_ my girlfriend." Danny whispered. I twiddled my thumbs in my lap, looking down. Finnick just smirked.

"Wow, what _are _the chances?" He shifted the position in his chair. "Odds certainly weren't in your favor." Danny nodded. Silence broke out between the four of us.

"Well, it's getting late. We'll resume our strategizing tomorrow now shall we? I think we will arrive at the Capitol by midday so we'll meet you here for breakfast." With that, Danny took my hand and we walked into his cabin.

I plopped myself onto his bed and wrapped myself in the really soft and heavy blanket and faced the wall. Danny just lay beside me, hugging me from behind.

"Why did this have to happen?" I sobbed, tears cascading down my cheeks. Danny hushed me and rolled me over to face him. He reached into his shirt and pulled out the necklace Sera gave him. I did the same.

"We're together Jasmine." He pulled a smile and connected our necklaces together. "So we'll be OK. No matter what happens." I pushed him away and laughed.

"You're so corny." I nudged him on the nose. "But that's why I love you."

That night Danny and I both couldn't sleep so instead we decided to watch the reapings for the other eleven districts. I watched as District 1 presented a girl with long red-black hair and grey eyes and a tall masculine boy with sandy blonde hair. District 2 had two tributes that were around my age, with a seemingly similar relationship to Danny and me. Even if it wasn't what I thought it was, it sure looked that way. These four people originating from these districts are usually who we from District 4 end up having an alliance with so Danny and I paid the most attention to them.

The other districts didn't exactly have many standout tributes to me, since most of the other Districts are worse off than us, or so I've heard. They had really skimpy looking tributes, hollow from hunger and pretty much walking to their grave. I couldn't help but sympathize with them before I told myself that I was just making my job a whole lot harder by doing so.

However, in District 3 the two that were selected were really young; probably in their very early teens. Old enough to learn some new tricks but way too young to die. The boy was really skinny; anorexic almost with his loose shirt and pants hanging off his body with nothing to cling to.

I sighed as Danny turned off the TV when the program concluded as we tried to muster as much sleep as we could before our arrival at the Capitol.

By morning, I managed an approximate three hours worth of sleep, which I guess is better than none at all; as Danny continued to sleep like a log beside me. I guess he was really drained after the program. It was seven, with dawn's rays seeping through the window, shining against the cabinet on the opposite wall. I plucked myself from Danny's grasp and maneuvered my way to the breakfast cart where I was supposed to meet Shanty and Finnick for more battle tactics.

They were already there along with Rierri, munching away at the array of pancakes and eggs cooked in almost every single way imaginable so I glided over and got comfortable in a chair before plucking some food off the different plates to fill my stomach up. Danny and I didn't exactly eat much the day before even though we were treated to this luxury, so I found that this was the time to go a little bit overboard.

"Good morning." I mumbled.

"At least you have manners." Rierri snorted, picking at her bread. "Do you like my outfit today?" She was wearing a frilly lime green dress with her blonde hair bundled up on her head with shoots of flowers sticking out of it.

"Yeah." I lied. "Flowers in a meadow?"

"Yes, a rather inspiring concept I believe. We don't see meadows in the Capitol so my stylist has offered me a piece of something we don't see every day."

Yeah her stylist offered the country a piece of crazy.

I grabbed a scone from the pile and began to imitate what Rierri had done with it yesterday. Smearing the jam and cream onto it, I took a gentle bite from it and chewed. The pastiness of the scone with the sweet jam mixed with the subtleness of the cream was divine. I could eat this for days. My expression must have given that away as Finnick handed me another.

"I can't!" I squealed. "I have to try everything!" He chuckled as he took it back and ate it for himself as I moved onto the pancakes.

At home we rarely got to eat anything other than fruit or fish so all the different flavors were all new to me. My taste buds were having a party in my mouth.

By this time, Danny groggily made his way down to the chair beside me and planted a kiss on my lips before saying, "Tastes like jam." From the corner of my eye, I saw Rierri shake her head in disgust and run off into another part of the train.

I averted my eyes to Finnick and Shanty who were still just looking at the both of us, probably wondering what to do with the impending break up. They have probably never experienced a pair of tributes with such close relationship beforehand so our situation was going to be a bit of a problem to them, I supposed. I didn't really want to have to do anything about it though. So long as Danny and I are together, I guess 'If there's a will, there's a way'. Right now, we are _so _willing to find a way out of this mess.

"Alright, continuing from yesterday…" Shanty began. "You guys have any tricks up your sleeve? Anything you'd like to tell us beforehand so we can train you properly?" She probably knew that we didn't need to be separated in order for this conversation to occur. Danny and I already know everything about each other, unless he had some sort of special talent he kept stashed away from his beloved girlfriend.

"Jasmine can throw stuff." Danny slurred, sucking up his orange juice like there's no more to go around. "I'm pretty sure she's stronger than I am, sadly."

I laughed a bit at this comment. Usually guys aren't very fond of having girlfriends that are stronger than them, and by admitting so really hurts their pride. "Nah, I always get him to carry the bucket of fish we catch when we bring it into the market. Sure, I can throw stuff but only if I can carry it beforehand."

Danny beamed a little, taking in the small compliment I had just given him. My comment is going to get to his head. "I'm sure you could carry the bucket of fish if you wanted to Jasmine, it's really light."

Great. It did get to his head. That bucket easily weighs 60kg or more on good days. There is no way I can carry that.

"So Jasmine can throw things and Danny can carry stuff." Shanty laughed. Our special skills aren't exactly glowing right now. "Okay then, let's test your brains a little since your physical skills hopefully aren't your strong point."

I sighed and Danny gobbled up the last bits of his bread. Finnick watched on, silently eating away at the bacon and egg sandwich he had made for himself.

"Okay so the arena you're placed in is a rainforest. The air is humid and all the wood is damp. The only sources of water are the rain that comes at midnight every night for exactly ten minutes and the ocean that is obviously filled with salt. You have an empty water bottle, some matches, a small heatproof pot and a sheet of plastic. It is eleven in the morning when the sun is at its hottest and you do not have a single drop of water. What do you do?"

I tried to imagine myself in the situation without water, with those very few essential items that could possibly mean the difference between life and death with only my initiative and innovative ideas to keep me alive. Shanty was obviously testing our survival skills and frankly right now I think I'm better off facing a pack of muttations then thirteen hours without water. While I continued to nervously ponder about the situation, Danny was consumed in thought probably putting together the last bits of the puzzle to solve the 'no water' crisis.

"You don't have all day to think about how to get the water guys. Whilst you're twiddling your thumbs, the gamemakers could easily set fire to the place and you would be trying to run away from it dehydrated, depleting in energy and running into another tribute holding the weapon that could end you."

Shanty's right. As much as I trained for the games, I had always lacked in the survival skills department and sadly my lack of attention to it is now starting to sink in.

"I would grab a thin branch and break it into several pieces, gather up some leaves and other easily burnable kindling and lay it out underneath the branches. Light it with the matches so it would burn and slowly sap the water from the branches. I would then light the branches and place the heatproof pot that has some ocean water in it on top so the water would boil and become steam. Using the sheet of plastic, I'll hold it on a tilt so the steam hits onto it and the condensation would roll down into the lip of my awaiting water bottle."

Shanty and Finnick seemed impressed, just as much as I am. Why didn't I think of that?

"Impressive Danny. But you failed to think that lighting a fire would give your position away to the other tributes. You do realize kindling gives off a lot of smoke, right? Also, that method easily takes up a few hours to finish your pot of water and by then someone would've found you."

I could see that Danny was kicking himself for missing out on that fact, but I guess in these sorts of cases it gets hard to think rationally.

"Your turn, Jasmine." Finnick said. "Since you didn't even begin to answer Shanty's scenario, now you're stuck with mine." I began to frantically think up of all the things that I had taught myself. How to build fires without matches, how to distinguish between edible foods, how to get out of particular ambushes. "Assume you two will instantly join the Career troop when the games begin, okay? The four tributes from both District 1 and 2 are with you and you have all set up camp for the night. You, Jasmine and the boy from District 1 are on watch when he suggests killing everyone in the troop off while they're sleeping, including Danny. What do you do?"

Finnick has just reminded me of the one thing that had left my mind. The possibility that I will be confronted with witnessing Danny's death, or having to take him out myself.

"I kill the boy from District 1, of course." I say without thinking.

"Wrong." Finnick shook his head in disappointment. "Say you've killed the boy from District 1. By doing that, you've turned the rest of the Career pack against you. You're a traitor, and now you have everyone but Danny to worry about."

Danny frowned at me, obviously upset with my choice. "Kill all the Career tributes off while staying in an alliance with the boy from District 1 and go around defeating the rest of the tributes until you have to kill him yourself." Danny said. Does he not care that I have to kill him?

"See? Even Danny sees the reality of the situation." Finnick stated. "Although I don't think he would be able to do what he's just said to me if he was the one dealing the blows."

Danny nodded, agreeing with Finnick. We both know that if it came down to it, we both wouldn't be able to kill each other. If that happened, how the hell would the Capitol be able to crown a victor?

Finnick leant back on his chair and plucked a grape from the fruit bowl. "Look. I understand how you guys feel. I want you both out of there alive as much as you do. Sadly, the Capitol hasn't bent their rules before and this year is no exception."

I looked down at the floor which made me realize I was still in my reaping attire. I hadn't taken a shower yet, even though the opportunity to have one presented itself when I first stepped onto this train. Danny too was still in his t-shirt and three quarters and was just as lost in thought as I was.

"Based on the information you two have given me about yourselves, I have a plan brewing up in my mind that I think you guys should execute." Leaning in towards Shanty's direction, she began to explain what to do if placed in particular environments and how to take advantage of the pre-arranged Career tribute alliance. I nodded several times throughout her whole explanation, my eyes growing with excitement. With this, I can be sure that one of us will make it out of there alive.

By eleven o' clock, I decided to take a shower before we arrived at the Capitol. The warm stream of water on my bare body trumps my cold baths back at home any day. There were a variety of different scents to choose from to lather my head with, from different flowers to different fruits. I chose the jasmine flower scent so I could literally smell like myself and after I had dried myself off with a large white towel that could wrap around my whole body, I put my reaping attire on again and carefully hung the necklace that Sera gave me around my neck.

Danny had already showered and readied himself for the cameras with his hair neatly swished to the side and his face completely clear of any dirt and grime. My hair was parted to the side and was let loose to fall straight down just passed my chest. It was a dark brown colour with some unusual light streaks- probably bleaching from too much sun and no hat from the many days out on the water fishing.

Shanty walked into the room with light steps and announced that our arrival at the Capitol is due in less than fifteen minutes, right past the forthcoming tunnel. Danny and I stood by the windows, taking in the last bit of greenery before darkness engulfed us.

When light came into view, we saw towering buildings that I've never witnessed in my entire lifetime and roads made out of solid concrete. TV screens four times larger than the one situated in the centre of Market Square were littered everywhere; with the replaying of the reaping allowing people to gather and bet on who they think will win the 71st Hunger Games.

The train slowed to a stop at the train station, with plenty of sadistic fans crowded together with all sorts of weird clothing and funny hairdos. Danny and I took each other's hands as the train doors opened, blinding us with the cameras that awaited us outside.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Rierri, Shanty and Finnick all escort us right onto Floor 4: the floor that the tributes from our district use every year. I could see Shanty and Finnick looking around and getting nostalgic hits from every corner, scouring the place for any differences since their last visit.

Danny and I just shrug as we too inspect the place. Why wouldn't you if you've lived in a house nowhere near as high tech as this? We were left to roam for about twenty minutes before we were summoned back at the main hall. Finnick and Shanty ushered us to sit, as they went through the next few steps before the games actually begin.

"The first thing that happens here is the opening ceremony. You'll go down to get a makeover beforehand so I believe that you shouldn't argue with your stylist, as it's just pointless and time consuming." Shanty said matter-of-factly. "We are actually due down there in five minutes, so let's go!"

Danny gets picked up by an odd looking woman with bright green hair and make-up and gets lead away to a different room whilst my prep team inspect me. There are three of them; all with funny sounding names that I don't even remember and faces that are beyond normal. They waxed every strip of hair off my body and lathered my body with something milky that made my skin feel absolutely moisturized and cooling the painful sting from the waxing. After they were done with me, a man that looked only a few years older than Finnick came around with a drawing pad and a sketching pen, circling me whilst hastily etching on that pad.

He was a rather tall figure, subtly handsome with obviously tints of blue dye in his hair. His eyes were crystal blue that almost looked as if light could reflect off of them. I actually felt the urge to try it out. After he had seemingly completed his work, he looked up from it and smiled.

"The name's Liore. You may call me Lio if you wish." He said politely. "Jasmine I'd just like to ask your opinion on your chariot costume. Tell me if you think it's absolutely brilliant or just simply outstanding."

Lio held up the drawing pad with me etched beautifully on it, only wearing what seems like… a fish.

"Did someone catch a big fish today?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. I wonder whether that 50cm trout I caught a few days ago is now draped over someone's body ready to attend some top notch party or something.

"No, no. Giniya suggested we have a complementary costume for both you and Danny. You're only one part of it. It doesn't look good without Danny in the picture." I sure hope so, because right now I'm just one giant fish.

Lio walks down to a machine that is on the opposite side of the room and he lays out the drawing pad over it. I follow him curiously as he taps a few buttons on the screen before it begins scanning his drawing pad several times. Not long later, a spitting image of the drawing translates itself into a costume with my exact measurements. This piece of machinery is from District 3, I bet. No one makes such intuitive inventions anywhere else, _especially _the Capitol. I only say this because I think the Capitol is so self reliant on the districts that one day if the Dark Days do repeat, they'll be worse off than the kids from District 12.

I took my reaping attire off and carefully slipped the new mechanically created outfit on. At my feet was a large tail which was hard to waddle around in and the body had a sort of fin to it. I stood in front of the full body length mirror and saw nothing but a giant fish, a snapper to be exact. Only it was blue.

"You look wonderful!" Lio chimed, clasping his hands together and grinning widely. I on the other hand, was disappointed. Shanty told me that I shouldn't complain as it would waste time, but frankly beautifying me up didn't take up much time due to the fact that most of my skin was covered and minimal make up was required.

"I look hideous." I stated bluntly. Lio frowned and examined me once more.

"I thought you looked great." He sighed. "Danny is going to be a fisherman, and you were going to be his catch. We were going to hook you two together with a fishing line." Great, he thinks I'm dinner or something. "No matter. I have another idea."

Lio took another few moments to sketch up something on his pad again and not long after, it was scanned through the machine and pulled down over my head.

He took a step back and placed his hands on his hips. "Glad you didn't like the last one; though I thought it looked _wonderful, _this time you're absolutely _ravishing._" I turned to go look in the mirror but Lio stopped me. "It's a surprise. You can look when you're with Danny."

We walked down to the other room Danny was lead to earlier the evening and Lio gives three careful knocks before a lady's voice was heard telling us that we could go in.

"Giniya dear, your outfit should've been easier to design." Lio walks up to the woman with green hair and gives her a nod.

"Hey Giniya, are you sure–" Danny's voice stopped. He was dressed with an olive coloured hat, a simple dark green t-shirt with a padded vest firmly wrapped around his body. The clunking of his brown boots stopped as he scanned me up and down. His gaze then averted to Lio. "What did you do to my girlfriend?"

Lio simply smirked and waved his hand whilst looking at the ground. His face just had victory written all over it. "Don't like it?"

"Of course not. I didn't fall in love with a mermaid."

That's right. Lio had changed me into something so mythical, something that doesn't exist. I was a creature that had the power to sing so beautifully that all the people around her would fall under her spell. He completely changed me into something I'm not, something I can't be.

Giniya looked at her small watch that loosely hung around her wrist and turned a few knobs onto it. A light shot out, words written like a page but in the air.

"The opening ceremony is in twenty minutes. Let's head down there now." And then with a simple click, the light disappeared.

All the tributes wore different costumes according to their District's specializations. Some were fantastic and some were just utterly boring. The two from District 1 were amazing. The girl wore a flowing dress, glittering with studded diamantes of different colours, gleaming even with the little light in the room.

"Jasmine." Danny called from the chariot. He was sitting casually holding his hand out to me, so I took it and he pulled me in with him. "Giniya told me to make the crowd love us."

"That's easy enough." I laughed sarcastically. "Who wouldn't love us? I'm a mermaid after all. People _love _mermaids."

Danny just smiled and we clasped our hands together. The ceremony still wasn't due for about ten minutes, and all the other tributes were still just hanging about fixing up last minute adjustments to their costumes, not even acknowledging their district partners except for the two in District 2, who were holding each other's hands just like Danny and I were. This just confirmed my suspicions of their relationship when I saw the replay of their reaping back on the train.

"We don't seem like the only couple here." I whispered to Danny. He just chuckled.

"I guess odds weren't in anyone's favor this year."

The chariots were loaded as the large doors opened; the Capitol crowd's cheers filled the air, deafening me. Giniya, Liore and Rierri weren't the only whack people in Panem, the whole Capitol was. Obviously, 'normal' was this whack look here, and that's why only when they venture out of their beloved home are they considered a freak.

Our chariot trotted past fourth, in accordance to our District number. Danny and I held each other's hand, our sweat combining from the heat and nervousness to please this overwhelmingly crazy crowd. I raised my other hand to wave to the crowd, pulling a nervous smile. I have to say we weren't the centre of attention because the two from District 2 were stealing the show. They both were wearing classy peacekeeper uniforms- not the type that actual peacekeepers wear around in the districts, but with alterations to fit their looks. The girl wore the silver attire in the form of a dress with a light weight peacekeeper jacket-turned-cardigan over it. The boy pretty much wore the peacekeeper uniform, only in a lighter manner than the heavy looking ones they wear in the districts. Those two are going to be the favorites, no doubt. Plus, they're already a Career district so it's quite possible they will be a tough lot to beat.

The chariots raced past the City Circle, President Snow stood in front of the stage with his booming voice and recited the speech that's repeated every year, our chariots take another lap around the City Circle and then we're pulled backstage.

Big whoop.

"You two aren't exactly etching your way into anyone's heads now aren't you?" Lio asked. Yeah, because in the fishing district, all we ever do is put on this generalized outfit and catch mermaids. Boring, if you ask me.

"Next up is the training sessions. I want you two to go learn some new things, because if you go do the things you know you're already good at, you're just simply wasting time showing off." Shanty stated. What's with her and wasting time?

Whatever, I guess I might as well learn a few things before we go and die.

Shanty woke both Danny and I up that morning to have a quick breakfast- nothing too heavy in case it comes back up- and to escort us both down to the training centre.

The training centre is where the tributes ready themselves before releasing us into the arena so they get more entertainment out of it since we're somewhat trained, rather than releasing a pack of 24 children out into the wild to die from natural causes.

When Danny and I arrive, we had to wait for two minutes before Atala – a tall, athletic woman who was the head trainer, began her brief introduction of rules to the training centre. Only the 'rules' weren't a plural. It was one rule: don't kill each other right now.

There were experts in each skill that would remain at their stations, as we would be allowed to freely travel to any station of our choosing, per our mentor's instructions. Some of the stations would teach survival skills (which I _really _think I need to work on right now), others fighting techniques. She also mentioned that we were forbidden to engage in any combative exercise with another tribute. There were assistants on hand if we wanted to practice with a partner.

I automatically headed off to the fire making station where I learned how to build a fire and light it with both the matches and flint. It worked pretty well because after an hour and a half, I successfully managed both of them.

At this time Danny was busing himself with trying to learn a few weaponry skills. He found himself pretty handy with a spear and the bow and arrows although it wasn't perfect, I guess its good enough to stop me from protecting his sweet ass. He can protect me instead!

I later moved onto other survival stations such as the edible plants station where I learnt about which plants were poisonous and how to avoid them. There's this one plant- Irringose where it's poisonous to smell it or eat it, but if you boil it for long enough, the poison will leak out into the water and no longer be poisoned. The water however, becomes poisoned in its place.

Danny and I both join each other at the camouflage station where we both fail to make any replicate of nature on our bodies. After awhile, we decide to glue leaves onto ourselves and become human bushes, scaring off some of the other girls- especially the girl from District 1. She seemed friendly enough, so this provided me with the opportunity for a pre-battle alliance.

"Hi, name's Jasmine." I held my hand out to her. She took it in hers and nodded.

"Jewel." Her name must've been one of those fancy names you hear from her district. They have some pretty capitol-like names there.

"Say, how about you and your district partner team up with myself and Danny in the arena? I'm planning to ask the guys from District 2 as well." I asked. "It's just like every year- the career alliance?"

"Sure." She shrugged. "We'll live longer and scare off all the other kids. We all happen to be in our late teens too compared to the people from the other districts."

With that, District 4 and District 1 were now allies.

For the rest of the day, Danny and I continued our rounds from station to station together because we had already both tried out the things we thought we lacked at in our particular areas.

We both moved onto some climbing where an artificial rock faced cliff loomed above our heads, approximately six metres in height. Danny and I both took one look at each other and smirked.

"See you at the top." He said, leaping towards the bottom of the cliff face.

"Don't count on it." I laughed, taking the other side.

I was about two metres up on the wall as I realized I was about neck in neck with Danny. This being the training centre meant that there were no harnesses because in the arena they'll totally give you a harness to scale up a mountain.

He took a large step to a very firm looking rock, pulling himself up with his upper body strength. Danny, you never fail to impress me. Four metres up, Danny was about half a body's length above me, and determined to win, I began to juggle my options on safe rocks to step on faster. That's when I realized it. The silence in the room.

Everyone was watching us.

Trying to ignore them and their nosy stares, I got up neck in neck with Danny once again. He took a quick glance towards me and smirked. "Nice work." He pulled himself up another rock. "But I'm going to win, _dear._" His words lingered in taunt, as I gracefully accepted his unspoken challenge.

Pulling myself up another couple of rocks, the last meter was ahead with Danny and me at the same place and setting around the same even pace, I decided to crank it up a notch.

Two more rocks. Just two more to flick the bell at the top and signal my win.

One more rock. I take a careful hand and hold on with all my might, positioning my foot on the right rock to just hoist me up… _Ding!_

My head jolted to the left, with Danny casually sitting on the top flicking the bell a couple of times. Yes Danny, I get it. You won.

We laid on some of the gym mattresses on the floor, catching our breath. Scaling that cliff really took the energy out of us, no matter how fun it was. Danny rolled over and hugged me, his sweat beginning to seep through my clothes. "Well I'm glad to know that my boyfriend won't be hopeless in the arena." I joked. He playfully punched me in the arm and stared at me with those green eyes.

"You really think I'm going to drag you down? Jasmine, you need to give me a little credit." He laughed.

Our heavy breathing began to cease, so we got up only to see District 2 sitting next to each other in the corner of the training centre. The boy tribute pulled back the girl's hair and pulled her into a kiss, but before long the girl pulled away. Danny and I were so intrigued we decided to do some boxing, which was right next to where they were. The trainer who was in charge of our station allowed us to brawl with each other on the condition that he would keep a close eye on us to make sure we didn't bash each other up. He was really kind about it – probably had a sneaking suspicion about Danny and I's relationship – and was flexible about the rules of the Training Centre, so I immediately took a liking to him.

Yeah, we're eavesdropping. But who can help it when you find that you're not the only couple in here. Whilst they're being all mopey, Danny and I were trying to beat the living daylights out of each other jokingly. We made sure our punches and kicks weren't too loud or hard, but we weren't too quiet to make it obvious.

"Vee, please." The boy said to the girl, Vee. "I love you." He whispered.

"But Arjun…" Vee whimpered.

Mushy stuff, I believe. The boy was pretty handsome up close, his skin of a chocolate colour with large brown eyes. His hair was spiked around his head, with a side fringe covering part of his right eye. The girl was really cute, with long black hair which seemed naturally curled at the ends. Her eyes were small but round.

I made a disgusted face at Danny, who just chuckled. He took a punch towards the pad I was holding and pulled me close.

"I think they're having some relationship problems. I'm glad we're not like that." He whispered.

"Maybe we will be like that, especially with the punches you're giving me. They're so weak." I laughed, jumping back.

I took the pads off my hands and began to brawl with Danny. I took a swing towards the left side of his body before he easily evaded it by swiftly moving to his right. A hand dangerously got close to my head, but I blocked it with my arm.

"Danny, that's going to bruise," I gasped, throwing a punch to his shoulder. Danny didn't manage to move on time as it made contact with his skin.

"Ow!" He screeched, attending to his new wound.

"An eye for an eye." I chuckled, inspecting my arm. Sure enough, a small bruise was forming. "See I've got one too." I frowned.

The trainer stopped us because we were beginning to get a bit feisty, and that if we wanted to continue brawling, it'd be with him instead. So, I allowed Danny to have the first go at bashing up the trainer while I sat on the sidelines rubbing at my new bruise.

Realizing that we weren't exactly doing what we came to the boxing station for, I stopped looking at my new bruise and watched the couple again.

"I don't need this, Arjun." Vee stated firmly. "What I need right now, is to train so I can actually have some sort of a chance to see my family again!" She stood up and stormed off towards the spear throwing station. Watching her, she picked up a spear and threw it with great force to the dummy which was situated around ten meters away as it landed square into the dummy's head.

Arjun continued to sit there, looking as aimless as ever. I turned around to look at Danny who just casually shrugged at me- probably not knowing what to do. As much as I'd like to be a therapist, healing someone and then killing them later isn't exactly my definition of therapy so Danny and I continued to busy ourselves with training until Atala gave us permission to finish up for the day.

That night, I loitered around the restaurant area by myself. I wasn't hungry, but something made me feel like this was the place to be. Acting upon instinct, I decided to wait around for a little while longer. A whole three minutes past before I began to question my presence at such a pointless location when from the corner of my eye, I saw Vee. She had just exited the bathroom and was making her way towards the elevators. Fluttering over, I pretended to bump into her.

"Oh, sorry!" She apologized for her clumsiness when I modestly said that it was okay. We pressed the down button as we waited for one of the elevators to take us down to our floors.

"My name's Jasmine." I introduced myself. "District 4."

"Oh, hi…" She said shyly. "My name's Vee. District 2. I've seen you and your district partner around a lot. The opening ceremony, the training centre. You guys looked amazing in the opening ceremony by the way." She complimented.

I gave a light chuckle. "No, no. Not as amazing as you and the guy from your district. Any attempt in pleasing the crowd completely fell through that day because you two stole the show."

As if I had just reminded her of a bad memory, she fell silent again. I tried to think of something to rekindle the conversation so I could get some dish about her relationship with her district partner, since I was extremely curious at this point in time.

The elevator gave a ding signaling its arrival as we both stepped into it. I knew I only had a few more moments with her to get something out of the conversation, so I quickly blurted out, "You're familiar of the Career alliance, right?"She looked up at me and nodded. "Well, I was wondering whether you and…" I knew I couldn't mention his name, if I did then she would've known I eavesdropped or was just really thorough with my research; so I decided to play dumb. "…your district partner could join District 1, Danny and I in the alliance?"

"His name's Arjun." She mumbled. Thank god she mentioned his name. Now I don't have to say 'district partner' all the time. "I guess we should. We're better off that way anyway."

"Cool. We should meet and think up a plan of some form during lunch tomorrow."

"Sure thing. I'll inform Arjun." Just on time, the elevator doors opened up on my floor. I stepped out, giving Vee one last wave and smile before they closed.

"Where did you run off to?" Rierri growled, sitting around the dinner table along with everyone else in the District 4 crew. I glanced over to see Giniya and Lio, our fashion designers gobbling away at the Capitol delicacies. I don't really like those two. They are the perfect portrayal of Capitol minions.

"Went exploring." I stated, taking a seat beside Danny. Rierri didn't want to complain and neither did I, so we just ate our dinner and departed for bed soon after.

I heard the familiar seven-note knock on my door as I called for him to come in. Danny wore a loose singlet and shorts as he stumbled into the room, flopping himself onto my bed.

"So where did you go before dinner? Surely you weren't just craving some exploration." He flapped around on my bed, trying to move into the right position to get comfortable. When he found it, he just lay in that same position looking at me.

"I don't know why, but I felt I needed to go to the restaurant." I said.

"No wonder you didn't eat much for dinner." He said.

"I didn't go eat, Danny. I was loitering around for some reason. I didn't get why I felt like I had to be there, but sure enough Vee appeared." He rolled over, closer this time. "I asked her to join the Career alliance. She accepted. We're having a meeting at lunch tomorrow."

"Did she say anything about Arjun?" He asked curiously.

"Not really. She hesitated when I brought him up though. There's definitely something going on between them."

"Thanks for pointing that out, captain obvious. I think I could deduct that from what we saw down at the training centre."

I jumped into the bed too and slipped myself under the covers. "Well," I began. "I was just restating the situation. Just in case you forgot."

"Thank you. You're so considerate Jasmine."

"No problem. I'm always here to guide my boyfriend no matter how lost he gets" I teased.

He frowned and lunged towards me, holding my waist. His fingers began scratching up and down on my sides, when I can't help but laugh out in pain. "Stop tickling me!" I continued laughing, my body jolting from all sides. When he didn't stop, I rolled over several times before I fell off the bed, escaping his wrath. I quickly picked myself up from the ground before he could get to me and ran down towards the opposite wall.

"Can't get me now!" I teased, clutching onto the cold cement wall.

Danny simply shook his head. "You're such a kid sometimes Jasmine."

"Says the guy who started it!" All Danny could do was let out a sigh and shake his head at me, his eyes laughing.

The next day we rose early to have another strange Capitol breakfast and we went to the Training centre once again to do our second day out of the three days of training.

Danny decided to go and jump around on the agility course while I wandered around, trying to figure out what I should focus on next. I turned around to see a young boy with styled dark brown hair on the large computer screen to match up animals and plants to whether they were edible or not. Except, he wasn't exactly matching them up- he was tapping on keys and such, but soon a window popped up. He was from District 3, so it was no wonder why he was so technologically apt. I walked up to him, inspecting him a bit closer.

He was short, with small green eyes staring intently at the screen. The tribute uniform on him hung loosely around his skinny body. Unless he has some sort of special power, I don't think he would last long out in the arena. I didn't want to approach him, so I backed off after I made my useless observations.

Jewel's district partner Ketch was busy on the agility course, jumping from one block to another. He had remarkable speed as the coach for that station put several dummies around the agility course. Ketch plucked a knife from his pocket and began stabbing his way through the dummies.

"One minute and forty-seven seconds." The coach read out the timer he held in his hand. Wow, Ketch managed to jump around on blocks whilst taking out _thirty _dummies in less than two minutes? Note to self: make sure you're on that boy's side, or else you're as good as dead.

I began making my way to the ropes course, climbing up towards the roofing area. Being light, I pretty much pounced my way up within a matter of seconds. It seemed much easier than the cliff climbing Danny had challenged me to yesterday. Don't ask me why.

The rest of the day consisted of a few improvements here and there to anything I thought I needed to work on. Danny and I were pretty much separated for the whole day, but that didn't matter so much to me. He seemed to be getting along with some guy from District 10, as they were both together at the weights station, doing some bench presses together.

I had informed Jewel about the Career alliance meeting that morning and told her to also pass the message onto Ketch- whom I had just looked at from afar for all this time. I hadn't had a single encounter with him that involved us talking. We both happened to be at the shooting range at the same time and whilst my arrows were failing to even hit the dummy at only two meters away, Ketch was easily hitting bullseyes from the fifteen meters mark. Angry with myself with my lack of knowledge and skill that I thought I had at least acquired over my many years of training, I threw the bow at the dummy and the arrow straight afterwards, the arrow pinning the dummy right at the heart with the bow hanging off of it like a hanger. Dammit Jasmine, if only you could be as good at everything as you are at throwing things around.

Lunch is served in the dining room just off of the gymnasium where all twenty four of us tributes all gather around in tables, with food being served in carts around the room and you just go and help yourself. After we all piled food onto our plates, we six Careers all crowded around one table with hushed voices to begin our meeting.

"I don't see the point out of a meeting." Ketch muttered unenthusiastically. "We don't need a battle plan. We just need weapons and to use them to kill everyone."

Vee looked up. She was sitting beside Arjun, who had his arm wrapped securely around her but she made no restraint to his actions. "I think Jasmine is right though. A battle plan might be good."

"With what though? We don't know anything. The arena could be carpeted with lava for all we know." Ketch retorted, leaning back on his chair. He spread his arms across the top of his chair, giving an all too relaxed look.

"Well, we have to keep an open mind about things. Let's think up of some arenas and how some things would play out if particular things happened." I said, trying to ignore the ignorance of this guy. "Firstly, there has been an arena where you've had to have the ability to swim before. Does anyone know how to swim?"

Vee put her hand up slowly. "I can. My mum taught me when I was younger."

"Cool, who else?" Everyone else just looked around at each other, but I guess that was it. "Alright, so if we happen to be in an arena where the Cornucopia is surrounded by water, I want for the people who can swim to get to the other three people to safety on shore."

I took a drink and began sipping it, gesturing to the others that we could still eat while we discussed. Without hesitating, Jewel began to slurp up some pumpkin soup as some of the other guys picked up their cutlery and began stabbing at their roasts. At this point in time, Arjun was yet to talk. That guy seems to have issues when it comes to talking properly that didn't involve anything lovey-dovey. I tried to get my head back focused on the plan.

"How about at the Cornucopia since Ketch, you're so excited to kill people, we hold them back and you go around killing them off? We'll do better since we'll have all the supplies." Danny smirked. Ketch nodded approvingly, giving a pat on Danny's back.

"I like this plan Four. I hope you intend to stick to it." He glared at us, as if we're going to stab him in the back the moment he begins taking down someone else. Which I think we should, because he poses such a big threat to everyone and all. What also rubbed me in the wrong way about this guy was his lack of interest in even our names, so all he did was continue to call us by our district numbers.

After a few more battle tactics were in place, we all dispersed for the rest of training for the afternoon.

Curling up against Danny after dinner, we simply sat sprawled out on the couch in the living room playing with each other's hair.

"Three more days of pampering and then we're going to be thrown into battle, now aren't we?" Danny asked, chuckling nervously. I could tell he was nervous. Who wouldn't be? He has a family to get back to and he would rather be at home just as much as anybody else does. Much more than that, he also has me to worry about; he obviously doesn't want me to die, but he also doesn't want to die himself. You can only have one or the other. There was no two ways about it. Who comes out of that arena alive all depends on how we work these things out.

"Yeah." I said.

"No matter what happens out there Jasmine. I will always love you." He said all of the sudden. I let out a small laugh which puzzled him.

"You're starting to sound like Arjun, Danny."

"Shouldn't I be saying these things –"

I pulled him in for a deep kiss. I put my arms around his neck and nudged his nose whilst feeling the softness and warmth of his pink lips.

"Does that answer your question?" I bit my lip, smiling.

"I didn't quite get the message. How about we try again?" He smiled cutely. I rolled my eyes and we kissed for a heck of a long time, my back leaning onto the couch. I could hear footsteps coming in from the main dining lounge but ignored it as I was so caught up in the moment with Danny.

I heard someone try to clear their throat, but as if we didn't care, we continued until we heard it the second time.

"Despicable children." Rierri scoffed in her high pitched Capitol accent. "Get a room! I am losing my purity every time I see you filthy district children engage in such… in such…"

"Acts of love?" Danny exasperated, glaring at Rierri.

"Most definitely not! This is _not_ love, this is merely lust!" She screeched; storming out of the lounge and slamming her door shut behind her.

"_Get a room!_" I mimicked, chuckling.

"We have one, the living room."He laughed.

I heard a door creak slightly open as I heard Rierri's voice yet again screech out, "One that is behind closed doors!"

"Okay then, the dining room, kitchen, living area and rumpus are ours. Now, shall we?" He asked, licking his lips whilst looking quite evidently at my lips. I bit my lip and nodded, sharing this moment with the boy I loved.

The last day of training flew by quite fast and by now I could probably manage the basic survival skills. I had a knack for knots, tying noose by noose impressing the trainer at the station. Something else I was also quite fond of was my improved ability to climb up things. I had raced Danny once again on the cliff wall, managing to flick the bell at the top a whole meter in front of him.

Vee was extremely smart; finishing the edible plants and animals test in the bat of an eye ending with a perfect score. Ketch was as brutal as usual, managing to throw a spear perfectly skewering the dummy in the heart from twenty meters now. Jewel was obviously conserving her skills because she has been focused on the survival skills stations for the whole three days. Arjun. Well, he spends most of the training either moping in some sort of corner or throwing spears hopelessly. I've seen him occasionally talk to a girl from District 9; probably for relationship advice. Danny has become a killing machine, throwing medicine balls around and now benching around 60kg. He has also learned how to use the bow and arrow quite well now, much better than I could ever use that thing apart from chucking it. Danny and I have also leveled up in the camouflage station, moving on from bushes to rocks by finding some sort of glue that can stick onto our skin and we rub pebbles onto it. We somewhat blend into nature, but only to an extent. It's not perfect, but hey, it's better than holding a couple of branches.

That afternoon we were due for our private sessions with the Gamemakers where they score us and only broadcast that score for all of Panem to see. Panem will never know what we did in our private session, but the score indicates our strength and the ability and how promising we are to bet on. This score also attracts sponsors, which are vital for the games. They are the difference between life and death for us. Hopefully District 4 will remember my plea for them to sponsor Danny.

All twenty four tributes were all piled up in the waiting room, as the Gamemakers take us in one by one, each session lasting roughly fifteen minutes. Ketch went first, taking no longer than twelve minutes before Jewel was called. After what seemed like the longest hour and a half of my life, Danny was up. I bid him good luck and after a peck on lips, he practically skipped down the hall to his assessment.

I didn't actually know what Danny was planning to do, probably chuck around a few things, climb a wall or two maybe. The problem is; what was I going to do?

When it was my turn, I walked steadily into the training room for the last time, except only this time, I felt the emptiness in the large room. The Gamemakers were all piled up in a corner together, all holding some form of alcohol in their hands.

"Jasmine Kouch, District 4." I stated firmly.

"Let's see what you can do then, Jasmine." Seneca Crane- the new Gamemaker said. He held a glass up to me, signaling for me to start.

"For this to work, I need someone to help me. I'm not going to be battling idle dummies in the arena now aren't I?" Smirking, I urged Seneca to come down from his safe spot. He carefully placed his glass down and adjusted his suit.

"What would you like for me to do, Jasmine?" He said. "I am no fighter. I am merely a Gamemaker."

"I'd like for you to stand there." I pointed towards a spot in the floor in front of me. He slowly moved towards it and stood there, his eyes trained on me like an eagle watching my every move. "I wish for you to experience my skill first hand."

Without hesitation, I dashed right up to him and did a leg sweep, knocking him to the ground. From the corner of my eye, I could tell that the other Gamemakers were concerned of their head Gamemakers capability against a child.

"I invite you all to come down here and help your friend." I said all a bit too satisfyingly.

Most of them hesitated, but two other men ran down to help Seneca up. Seneca wiped his mouth, and braced himself. The three all stood their stance, watching my every move. Thinking I should stick to physical combat for now, I threw a punch towards the short fat Gamemaker who seemed to have a lot of trouble avoiding it. It hit him square on the face, knocking him back as he lay hopelessly on the floor. Seneca lunged towards me, trying to kick me. It was so easy though; his movements were slow and unstable, so I took a slow step to the right and kicked Seneca on his back to send him flying forwards. The other remaining Gamemaker simply stood there, waiting for my next move. I lunged towards him, aiming for his face. He simply put his hand up, catching my fist in his palm.

"Trained martial artist." He stated, smirking. Jumping back, he began to give me a flurry of kicks and punches, all which I barely managed to avoid. The short fat Gamemaker was still lying on the floor probably still recovering from one of my weakest moves. Seneca was a fairly skinny guy, so I slowly stepped back towards him, and just as the taller Gamemaker was about to kick, I grasped Seneca's ankles with my hands and I threw him towards the awaiting Gamemaker's foot.

Plucking a mat from the ground, he used it as a shield, circling me. The thing that was closest to me was the archery station, so I took several arrows from the quiver and threw them towards the mat. They all landed where his face would've been if it wasn't shielded.

"A-a-alright." Seneca stuttered, trying to get back to his feet. "You may be excused n-n-now, Jasmine."

With a smirk, I stuck my head up high and pranced out of that place, giving a quick 'you're next' glance to the rest of the Gamemakers.

Finnick was casually lying on the couch in front of the television flicking channels when I entered the room.

"How was it?" He asked, his eyes still staring at the screen.

"Fantastic." I replied, heading for my room. I flopped myself down, satisfied with my performance.

Later in that night, Shanty asked for me and Danny to assemble in the living room to watch the broadcasting of the scores. The anthem blared, President Snow gave his boring speech and finally, the thing that we were waiting for arrived.

Ketch, 11. That's expected. Jewel, 9. Arjun, 3. What? Did he _sleep _in his session? Vee, 8. The District 3 kids both got a 6.

"Pretty damn good alliances you got there." Finnick said.

"Therefore making it harder for you guys to kill them." Shanty stated matter-of-factly.

Danny, 10. Danny jumped up and was obviously brimming with excitement. "Congratulations!" Finnick said, patting him on the back.

I sat there, staring intently on the screen. Jasmine, 11.

I leapt out of my chair, screaming. Danny pulled me into a hug and after a pause; we were both jumping up and down together.

All the other tributes all ranged between two to nine, which made me start to doubt our need for Arjun in the alliance. Usually at the end of the results the anthem plays again and the screen would go black. However, the anthem didn't play but President Snow's face came up on the screen.

"This year, we have some pretty ruthless tributes. We are expecting a great show this year, in the 71st annual Hunger Games!" He smiled, staring with those cold eyes. "Our head Gamemaker Seneca Crane has postponed his leadership this year due to some injuries he has sustained quite recently, so we must open our arms out to our new head Gamemaker, Juliae Casher!" With that, his face disappeared from the screen, the anthem blared and then the screen went black.

"I wonder what injuries would make him quit? He seemed pretty eager to be head this year." Shanty said. I chuckled to myself, remembering how I just threw him by the ankle into someone else's foot. Shanty looked at me, so I zipped my mouth closed and tried not to continue laughing, but failed. "You seem to know something, Jasmine."

"You know during the private sessions right?" I said, still uncontrollably laughing. "I asked for him to come down and be my punching bag."

Rierri shrieked, burying her face in her hands. Danny burst out laughing with me. "So, you were the one that hurt him?"

"Not really, depends how you see it. One of the other Gamemakers was also testing me- claimed himself to be a martial artist, and just as he was going to kick, I threw Seneca into his foot. So it was his foot's fault." I pouted.

By this time Danny was rolling on the ground.

"Enough of that!" Rierri screeched, she was dabbing a napkin to her eyes. We stopped laughing. "I have had enough of you two. You both are crazy, crazy children!" Storming to her room, she slammed the door shut.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

For the first time in days, Danny and I were able to sleep in. Shanty and Finnick picked us up in the afternoon for some tips for the interviews. These interviews lasted precisely three minutes, and the interviewer Caesar Flickerman was always such a charming fellow, easily keeping the conversation flowing.

Shanty and I stepped into a room together and began to discuss how the interview process worked.

"Firstly, you go in District order. You'll go before Danny does, because it is always mandatory for the girl to go before the boy." I nodded. "Secondly, Caesar will ask you a few questions. Undoubtedly, he will probably ask you about your relationship with Danny. You have to be cool about it. Don't sound like you're fretting over it because although you haven't said anything, I can tell that's the biggest problem on your mind. You act like it's nothing all the time, kissing Danny whenever you can, even in front of Rierri who hates it. You're scared, Jasmine. Scared of losing him."

I looked down at the floor. What Shanty said was true. Well, who wouldn't be scared of losing your loved one? It's not like Danny and I have only just started going out either, it was a complete three years and um… I've forgotten how many months it's been.

Nodding, Shanty continued telling me that I should act very calm about the whole situation. I'm a Career. I trained for these games. People should be putting in money to bet on me.

The interviews weren't until later that afternoon but Liore took me away to put me into my interview dress. I didn't like the idea of wearing a dress, although it'd probably be better than that silly mermaid costume I had to wear in the opening ceremony.

Once again, he pulled out his sketchpad and began drawing up a dress. "This time, I'm going for a 'girl in despair' look. Something that would make people feel sympathy for you going in with your boyfriend." Great, this guy is completely backfiring Shanty's advice at me. I glared at him, but looking at his sketchpad I saw this ridiculous drawing of me with a dress that was pretty much in pieces. "I call it, 'ripped apart'!" He beamed, holding his sketchpad in the air, admiring it.

"This is stupid!" I yelled, snatching his pad off of him and tearing the page out. I crumpled it in my hands and threw it, landing directly into the bin. "How am I meant to get sponsors with that dress? It's hideous and I might as well go into the interview stark naked!" Liore took a step back and frowned, holding his sketchpad. "Shanty told me not to complain about your stupid costumes, but I can't help it if it's _this _bad!"

Liore wept, his tears beginning to wet his sketchpad. "I thought my designs were magnificent!" He said, screaming with more tears running down his cheeks.

Great, I just made my fashion designer hysterical. "Look, your designs just need improving. They're good, but they don't fit the purposes of the games." I said calmly. Liore looked at up me with wet eyes.

"You really think so?"

"Yeah, like for the interviews, Shanty told me to be calm, cool and very collected. I'm meant to be one of the Careers, and I'm meant to be unforgiving. You think you'd be able to summon something up for that occasion?" Lio subtly nodded, and before long he whipped out his pen once again to etch something else on his drawing pad.

Like I thought, his creations are outstanding, as long as he knew what occasion he's meant to be creating it for. While we were scanning the dress, I knew this was going to be perfect. _This_ is going to make heads turn.

"And here we have it ladies and gentleman, Caesar Flickerman!" The person who screamed out his name stretched it long and proud, and when his name was called, Caesar flicked his head around and gave a winning smile to the Capitol audience. The crowd went nuts.

"Thank you, thank you!" He gave a courteous bow and sat himself back down on the comfy orange chair close to him. The applause ceased as he looked right at the audience. "Like every year, the Capitol hosts a magnificent event that is broadcast across all across Panem! And this year, we invite the tributes of the 71st Hunger Games to the stage! Here's District 1's, Jewel!" He flicked his hands across towards the west wing, where Jewel pranced out in a flowing studded dress. It was white with transparent layers in some sort of material I couldn't recognize, with sapphires and garnets scattered beautifully all over. She was a stunner.

Everyone else moved past pretty quickly and soon it was my turn.

"And we welcome District 4's Jasmine to the stage!" He screamed, once again pointing to the west wing where I pranced out, giving a beaming smile as I waved to the audience. I sat myself down on the seat next to Caesar. Man the seat was really comfortable. I cushioned myself for three minutes of luxury.

"Hello there Jasmine." Caesar beamed, scanning me up and down. "My, what a fantastic dress this is!" He gaped, looking for the audience to react- which they did pretty damn well.

I had a one shoulder dress that was fiery red, with white bandages draped over but not in a mummy way, but in the sense I had a thousand inner wounds.

"Yes, my fashion designer Liore is exceptional." I grinned, looking for Liore in the audience. He stood up and took a bow, then sitting back down excitedly with everyone around him praising his work. Once everyone calmed down, Caesar resumed his questions.

"So, Jasmine. You're from the fishing district, do you fish a lot?" He began, looking at me. The Capitol audience was quiet, awaiting my answers to his questions.

"Every morning, Caesar." I said. "In my old little dingy."

"Do you catch many fish?"

"Of course, I caught my first fish the moment I could hold the fishing rod." Caesar laughed.

"That's a true District 4 girl right there!" I smiled at the audience whom were all clapping. Then Caesar's tone turned down. "Apparently you and your district partner Danny share a special relationship." He whispered, but with the microphone pinned to his suit jacket, of course everyone in Panem could hear him.

I lowered my voice to the same tone as him. "Depends what you call 'special' Caesar."

"You know, holding hands down the street, long strolls by the beach…" His voice trailed off. I gave a gasp and pretended I had just realized what he meant.

"Ohhh!" I exclaimed, stretching it long as if surprised. "There are not exactly many beaches where we are, mostly just piers. But sure, we have long strolls down the pier. Especially when he's taking awhile to carry the bucket of fish down to the market." The audience laughed.

"How long have you guys been, you know, together?" He pried, curiously.

"We've been fishing partners for five years. If that's what you mean." I chuckled, continuously avoiding the question. I'm keeping the audience on edge, so that by the time that it's Danny's interview, Caesar will steal the rest of the information from him instead.

"You are just like the girl from District 2." He said, laughing. "Continuously avoiding my question. Alright, we'll play. Feisty personality, very capable of looking after yourself. I'm sure you've had a few guys chasing after you before." His eyes bore into mine, as I just simply gave out a light giggle.

"Well, I _have _stolen fish from some of my classmates' boats before…" Everybody gave out a hearty laugh. "Yeah, they run _fast._"

"In the arena, how would you and Danny cope with knowing that at least one of you won't survive? According to what you had just informed me, he's your 'fishing partner' and obviously you two would've established some sort of connection there. On top of that, I don't think Panem is convinced. We think you two are something _more._" He kept pressing on, leaning in towards me.

"Alright, alright. You got me. Danny is something more, something much more than just a fishing partner to me." I said. Caesar leaned in closer. "He's also…" The buzzer went off, signaling that my three minutes of interviews was over. "The person who's next to be interviewed!" I ended cheekily, standing up. Caesar chuckled and took me by the hand.

"Jasmine, from District 4 everybody!" The audience groaned because I never got to finish what my relationship with Danny was, but they good heartedly applauded for me anyway.

I made my way to the east wing, where I stood there to watch Danny's interview. Surely they will try to squeeze out the missing gaps to our relationship from him.

Danny in his oh-so-dashing white suit pranced out onto the stage to greet Caesar. He was so casual about everything; he didn't even look like he was fretting about what he had to say or what his overall outlook to the audience was meant to be.

"So you've been interrogating my fishing partner now haven't you, Caesar?" He began cheekily grinning at him. Danny must've been listening to every word I said during my interview and was probably wondering why I decided to avoid all of Caesar's curious questions.

"No, no!" Caesar was grinning guiltily and held his hands up defensively. "I was merely _interviewing _her, that's my job is it not?" Caesar questioned. Danny simply nodded and chuckled. "Alright so Danny, what was your life down at home compared to the Capitol?"

Danny began by talking about how he had to look after his two twin sisters, Kay and May- who were both just six years old. His parents are always out trying to get food for the family so he was the nanny for them. The Capitol presented many great delicacies compared to life back at home and if Kay and May had grown up in the Capitol they'd be able to eat such nice foods. Danny joked about smuggling some Capitol food for them too. If he didn't get reaped, he would've been able to start doing physical labor legally, so his mum would be able to rest up at home and he would work in her place.

Caesar just nodded throughout Danny's heartfelt story and leant on his chin in his palm. After Danny had finished, Caesar shot up. "Alright, I'm going to ask you what's on everyone's mind." I could tell Danny knew what was coming, but he went along with it.

"Whatever could it be, Caesar?"

"Jasmine isn't _just_ your fishing partnerisn't she?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

Danny glanced towards my direction, his eyes meeting mine. I gave him a reassuring nod, as he whipped his head back around. He put his hand in his shirt and for a moment Caesar gave a confused look. When Danny pulled out his necklace, he showed it to Caesar.

"Our friend back at home gave Jasmine and I a matching set of necklaces. Mine says 'girl' and hers says 'boy'; so we always have each other. But, when we're together…" He gave me another glance, and I knew what he wanted immediately. My hand dived down my dress as I plucked the necklace from around my neck and threw it with perfect aim towards Danny. He caught it with one hand and connected our necklaces together. "…we'll be okay."

Caesar looked at the two necklaces connected magnetically and smiled sympathetically. "I'm touched."

Danny spun his head around to me once more, and gave me that lovable corny smile he gives when he's lost in the moment. "Caesar and Panem…" He started, taking a deep breath. "I just want to say, that I love my fishing partner, and I have for three whole years and eleven months."

As soon as he finished his sentence, the buzzer went off and Caesar gave him a reassuring pat on the back, thanked him and sent him off into the east wing to greet me. Smiling, I could never be as happy to be called Danny's girlfriend.

"Your girlfriend must feel so lucky right now." I said, pulling Danny into an embrace.

I could feel his breath against my ear as he whispered, "She better feel lucky."

We must've made a huge impression because Shanty and Finnick came back with huge smiles saying that we both sat our interviews the best we could and on top of our training scores, we were sure to attract sponsors.

Rierri also didn't stop mentioning how corny and disgusting we talked in our interviews during dinner and all we could do was give each other silent exchanges of laughter. Liore thanked me for my critique in his designs and that he was given an opportunity to be promoted in the following year. I couldn't help but like Lio, no matter how weird and almighty he had acted beforehand. All he needed was a little defiance and it completely spun in his favor in the end.

After dinner, Shanty and Finnick gave us some last minute advice and also reminded us of the plan we had created on the train. Tomorrow was the big day and in less than twenty four hours, I will on a hovercraft that will possibly lead me to the place I die. Danny was listening intently to every word our mentors had provided to us and most of the way through he was giving me reassuring smiles to make sure every last word they utter out of their mouths was drilled into my brain.

"Whatever the arena brings at you, remember to keep a clear head and stay _focused._" Shanty stated firmly, giving us glares as if her message will telepathically transmit into our minds. "Also, I know you are in the Career group, but _do not _trust anyone. Not even each other."

"Why shouldn't we trust each other?" Danny asked before I could.

"Who knows, maybe you will hook up with one of the other Careers and get brainwashed or something." Shanty sighed. "Like what I did to win. Or what Finnick made up in his test scenario."

Shanty made sense, but Danny clasped my hand tighter. He wouldn't do such a thing. I know he'd die if he even thought of betraying me.

After everything was done and dusted, we headed into our rooms for the final night of comfort; Danny slipped in and got into bed with me. I looked at him and his gleaming green eyes and knew that this was probably the last night we'd ever be together _safely. _

Leaning in towards me, his hand rested on my chin as he guided his lips to mine, eating away at the taste of each other's lips. This feeling of want overwhelmed me as my fingers began to trace down his shirt which I hastily pulled up over his head. It's not like I haven't seen him topless before, I have plenty of times. In the summer he would fish like that. Sadly being a girl, that was against my morals to do the same thing.

I looked up at him with lust filled eyes and kissed him again.

"Are you sure?" He asked, looking at me with concern.

I nodded, looking downwards. "I'm sure." I replied.

And so that night we were consumed with each other's sweat and the undeniable love that we had for each other.

"Wake up you two~" Someone cooed from the end of the room. My eyes were still shut and I was still really tired from the events of last night.

"What…" I groaned, turning around in my bed.

"You have to get up now, you two~" That voice kept cooing, but I really wanted them to go away. "The hovercraft departs in two hours~"

Two hours? I shot right out of bed, not remembering that I didn't have a stitch of clothing on and that they were all scattered around the room. The blanket fell to my stomach, revealing my bare breasts to whoever was at the door.

"Jasmine dear, I suggest you wear something before you go to breakfast." The voice came from Liore, who had come pick me up for some last minute preparations before we were launched into the arena. He has seen me close to naked before, so thank god it was him and not Rierri. Frankly I didn't think I'd like Finnick see me like this either.

"Jasmine have you seen Dann – oh." Great. Nice timing Finnick. I grabbed the blanket and covered myself up the best I could. "Jasmine do you have a secret you want to tell me?" His tone of voice changed almost immediately into a seductive purr which gave me the shivers.

"Get out Finnick!" I chucked a pillow at him, but he maneuvered out of the way on time only for the pillow to reach Lio's face.

"I love it when you say my name." Finnick said teasingly and slipped out of the room. Lio gave me a frown and kicked the pillow away before he left the room too, pulling the door shut behind him.

I roused Danny from his deep sleep as he gave me that dreamy smile. "Last night was perfect." He said, pulling the blanket back over him.

"Yeah, alright. But we have to go eat breakfast now Danny!" He slowly got up, rubbing his eyes and releasing a big yawn. I got up out of bed, my hair falling messily down my chest as I grabbed my clothes and put them back on. Gathering up the clothes that belonged to Danny, who just lay in bed and stared at me, I chucked them into his face. "Get ready, pervert."

We scoffed down our breakfast as if that was the last day we were ever going to see food again – well, _good _food at least, before taking off to have our showers. Coming out smelling like jasmine flowers again, Danny gave me the final kiss in the Capitol. "See you in the arena." He said, smiling.

"Try not to hurt yourself out there." I said.

"Don't worry, I'm a new man!" He patted his chest momentarily, making me laugh before he was led away by Giniya.

Liore led me away onto the roof where the ladder of the hovercraft hung loosely down in front of me. He gave me a nod, as I took the ladder into my hands as it froze me in place until the doctor injected the tracker into my left forearm. This allowed them to locate me in the arena, no matter where I may be hiding. The hovercraft took off, as I watched the ground zoom out further and further away. After awhile, Lio asked me to eat some food and drink some water – which I do not hesitate to do as a full stomach would provide me with more energy for the upcoming hours of the bloodbath.

When we reached the Launch Room, Lio brushed back my hair into a simple ponytail, so that no hair was covering my face. Lio walked over to the tribute outfit and helped me get it on over my simple undergarments. There were heavy cargo pants, a fitting moss green thermal long sleeve, a padded vest that had a lot of pockets on the inside and out; and a simple pair of hiking boots.

I inspected the clothing a bit closer, the texture, and the density. The thermals were like the ones we wear back in District 4 on cold mornings out at sea, in the boat you don't move around a lot apart from using your arms to paddle or use the fishing rod. I'm expecting the place we're going to be dropped off at to be cold if not, freezing.

Lio examined the padded vest. "It'll definitely keep you warm. With the vast amount of pockets, maybe there are not many bags to carry things with at the Cornucopia. The boots are definitely a giveaway about the terrain. It's going to have a lot of contours, so you might be on a hill. Or maybe they're presuming you're going to be walking around a lot. But these shoes are hard to run in, especially since they're brand new. Hiking boots should be worn in. You may be in for quite a bit of blistering, Jasmine." Lio frowned looking at the boots before helping me lace them up. "I just want to say, thanks again for the critique on my fashion choices. I couldn't have gotten this wonderful opportunity without you." Kissing my hand, he gave me a genuine smile.

"It was all you," I said. "I just complained."

"Nevertheless, thanks for complaining." His mouth formed an 'oh' and he pulled out my necklace from my old clothing that were sprawled across the floor. "Good luck out there." He said, hanging it around my neck and tucking it into the thermal.

The countdown for launch began as I walked over to the circular metal plate and the glass cylinder encased me. I could already feel the stiffness of the boots. Lio gave me one last wave before the plate rose and I was standing in a completely new environment. The glass retreated as I stood freely in the arena, as Claudius Templesmith – the Hunger Games announcer screamed out, "Ladies and gentlemen, let the Seventy-First Hunger Games begin!"


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

My head shot around the new environment, scanning for things that I needed to focus on. It was relatively flat land here and all twenty-four tributes were all standing on a metal plate each in a perfect circle with only the Cornucopia blocking the view of the remaining tributes on the other side of it.

The diameter from me across to the tribute directly opposite would be roughly a good fifty meters. The mouth of the Cornucopia was facing to the left side of me, around about where Ketch was standing poised for attack.

There was no clear view of water where we were all situated, only the large clearing that we were in. The ground was littered with crunchy leaves, which would obviously make stealth a big issue. I could see trees in the distance, but they were all bush land trees so it made them almost impossible to climb. The bushes were of the prickly type; I've seen them before, if you brush against them too fast with bare skin, you're sure to get a really good cut.

About three meters on my left stood a tiny little girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. She looked as if she was seven, but seven year olds don't get placed into the arena so I assumed she was twelve. On my right was the boy from District 8, who was of a really good build and had bloodshot looking eyes. Danny was on my far right, his eyes focused on his choice of weapon at the Cornucopia. I decided to ignore him and do the same. I trusted him enough to save his own ass now.

I scanned the loot of the Cornucopia. Closest to me, around fifteen meters away was a little backpack. However, since we were Careers, this starting moment is an opportunity for a bloodbath not to walk around and choose which jacket looked nice. I tried to get my eyes on a weapon, something that would enable me to arm myself and help the others. A sash of knives, a good twenty or so of them were all stashed neatly in a pile just twenty meters from me, sitting on top of some sort of large plastic container. That's it. I'm going for them.

The countdown began to chime 10… 9… 8… and I tried to scan for last minute competitors for my knives. The boy from 10 – the guy that Danny was bench pressing with the other day at the training centre was eyeing them too, but looked away after his eyes fell upon a sturdy set of bow and arrows. Not much competition then, I just need to sprint there on time.

3… 2… 1… And then the gong a second to lose, I leapt off the metal plate and bounded across the loud floor, leaves crunching with every step I took. The little girl on my left ran off into the wilderness without even trying to engage in battle, which I thought was smart on her part.

I was only a few meters away from the knives when right in front of me I saw Ketch already engaged in battle. He didn't have his hands on a weapon yet, but the boy from District 5 had a spear ready to drive it into his heart.

With a swipe, I grabbed the knives with my left hand, passed one to my right; took a step back with my right leg and threw the knife with great speed, driving it right into the boy's hand. The boy dropped the spear, writhing with pain. He pulled out the knife only to see blood spurting out of his hand; his eyes widened with fear and even more so when Ketch picked up the spear he originally held and gave him the final blow. Ketch got up and looked at me, only to throw the spear in my direction. A girl was creeping up on me but I didn't hear her because I was so focused on helping Ketch but his spear reached her heart just in time. I gave him a simple wave of thanks.

From a distance I could see a boy hopping away with quite a few things from the Cornucopia, so I threw the knife into his leg to stop him from moving anywhere. Jewel pranced over to him, ripped off all the things he was carrying and she sliced him in half with her sword. Clearly not fazed by the sight of detached limbs, she simply picked up all of his things and carried them back over. No wonder she got a nine for her score. Frankly, right now I think she should've gotten higher.

My eyes wandered around the area again, now looking for formidable opponents. However, by this time most of the tributes had run away, but apart from the Careers there were still a few scrounging around for choice supplies. For each person that I saw that wasn't on our team, I threw a knife at them with perfect aim.

By sunset – which I must say was a magnificent orange and red colour – we had wiped out roughly eight tributes. They all lay dead, scattered around us with weapons stuck into every part of the body you could think of. The Career troop all bunched up together, exhausted from the last hours of fighting. Out of all the tributes that we had killed, none of them were of noticeable faces. Sure, we've seen them in the training centre before but that's as far as our recognition of them went. We all walked off to the side of the clearing for the hovercraft to appear above us and clean up the mess we made.

"You're soft, Four." Ketch said from behind me, panting.

"No I'm not. I saved your damned life." I hissed back, pointing to my stash of knives. I took a couple of them and neatly stashed them away in my vest. "And I had a knife in every tribute we killed today."

"Okay, sure I thank you for helping me out. But knowing your aim, you could've just thrown each knife into their hearts. Not their hands, their legs, their feet, their arms – their heart!" Ketch's voice rose. "We wouldn't have been here till sunset if you had just simply finished them off in the first go. Everyone else had to finish off your half assed job! It was like killing a bunch of wriggling worms!"

"Hey, lay off her." Danny said, with a bit of edge to his voice. "We've gone through at least a third of the initial number of tributes, so that's good enough for now."

Ketch just kicked up some leaves from the ground and snorted. "Fine. But make sure you do something about _them._" His head nodded towards Arjun and Vee who had both sustained minor cuts and bruising. "They're even more useless than you two are."

With that, he walked away towards Jewel who had started ransacking the Cornucopia for medical supplies. She had managed to find a cream that had no label to identify its use, a few band aids and bandages but not much else. She ushered Ketch to sit down whilst she attended to his minor cuts by rubbing on that cream and placing a small band aid onto it. He thanked her and walked around the Cornucopia to search for things he wanted for himself.

Arjun was probably the most useless guy on the planet. I actually thought he was smart in some sort of way or could unleash some sort of strength to startle us all; but no. He pretty much took a step back and watched the bloody fight unravel in front of his eyes. The only reason why he got cut was because he tripped over part of a root that was sticking up from the ground. Ugh, why does Vee even like that guy? Wait, I shouldn't be saying that. I said the exact same thing about Danny when we first met. And boom; now we're together.

I called to Vee to go look for things she might need so she got up and began looking through everything. After I had grabbed a few tridents, more knives and a sheath of arrows, I asked Vee – who had finished grabbing her lot of weaponry – to help sort the supplies out with me.

Container after container, Vee and I turned the Cornucopia upside down piling up supplies in such a fast manner that even Ketch couldn't complain. He simply sat back with Jewel watching us do our thing, because if there was any interference, we'd lose our mojo.

"There we go." I said, taking a step back to admire our work.

Food. We had plenty of food, quite a few bottles of water and iodine tablets to purify any water we would find in a stream nearby. It's good to know we won't starve to death at least. There were an assortment of weapons that were left unclaimed by us, but we stashed them around the clearing in trees and logs just in case we needed backups. There were also quite a few hiking packs – more than Liore had predicted and they weren't the little backpacks that you bring to school either, but the large, full scale pack that could probably fit a whole room of items in there. However, most were empty or contained items that didn't have much use. I tried to look for extra clothes, sleeping bags or _anything _that would provide extra warmth at night when the night air would presumably become close to freezing, but we found nothing. We pretty much had four piles – food, water, weapons and random.

We were both startled by the cannon, each Career counting the number of shots in their head.

"Nine." Danny confirmed.

"I thought we killed eight?" Jewel questioned, glancing around for an answer.

"Maybe we counted wrongly." Ketch replied, throwing his knife into the ground and plucking it out again.

We resumed looking at our pillage, ignoring the cannon. I could tell people wanted to talk about it, but we were too exhausted to do so. Next thing we had to figure out was the trouble of hiding such an enormous amount of supplies. We didn't want the other tributes stealing from us so we each took a hike pack and put in enough food for us each to last in case we got separated. With the remaining lot of food, we encased them with the many empty hiking packs we had and Vee painted them to camouflage with the tree or log we put them into. This way, if we were in a hurry and needed a new set of supplies, we could easily run to a spot that we knew contained a hike pack and swap it.

Nightfall had engulfed us by the time we finished and the anthem blared in our ears. The first face to appear was the boy from District 5, so that means that the two from District 3 are still alive. It was followed by the girl from his district, both from District 6, the boy from District 7, the boy from District 9, the girl from District 11 and both from District 12. Nine, all in all.

"We didn't kill the boy from District 6." Danny stated; his eyes lost in thought.

"Whoever did is less reluctant to kill than you, Jasmine." Ketch said matter-of-factly. He continued looking up to the sky as if the pictures of the tributes still loomed in the air, but nothing but a dark starry sky hung above our heads.

Slightly taken aback from that comment, I just shut my mouth and held my tongue back from whatever colourful word I might spit back out to Ketch which would obviously infuriate him, which would lead to a gruesome fight resulting in my definite death. That was unless Danny would help fight him back, which means I guess Jewel would fight alongside Ketch… man, one word can split our group up in two and we'd be killing each other instead of the other nine tributes which remained in hiding.

Not a good idea right now.

I walked over to the pile of random things and discovered that we actually had a few tents to go around. They were lightweight; probably District 8 – who were experts in fashioning up things like these – created them. Right now, although I initially thought that we'd have extremely cold weather due to the strange choice of tribute uniforms; the breeze was so warm that it almost hugged against your skin.

We all claimed a hiking bag each, filling it with extra weapons that we didn't need on hand, some food, water and a few iodine tablets, a blanket each and a tent between two people.

The cameras that were covering the games would probably be focused on our Career pack quite often, unless something interesting was unfolding amongst the other nine people – which I doubted at this time because it was already late into the night and all probably needed to rest up from running away from us.

Ketch really wanted to go comb through the rest of the arena to look for potential victims, especially since the weather was so kind to us at the moment. The other tributes could also be just staring at us from afar, waiting for the time we would rest so they could attack. So, in a unanimous vote we all cleared out from the Cornucopia, heading in what I presumed to be south.

There was a clear pathway through the bush lands, trekking past tall trees trying to tread cautiously on the leaves that were all scattered on the floor. Looking up towards the sky, which was littered with shining stars and a moon that shone so brightly that illuminated the whole arena, I noticed a small smoke drifting up into the air and dispersing from a distance so close to us that I could smell the wood burning. Ketch must've noticed it too, as his head perked up sniffing the summer air as his eyes lightened with excitement. "I think we ourselves found an idiot." Ketch said happily, beginning to pick up pace in the direction of the smoke.

I didn't get why someone would light a fire in this temperature; it was so warm that it was almost like having a blanket wrapped around you, minus the blanket. Whoever lit the fire is truly an idiot, too bad we have to kill them.

Just ahead I could make out a clearing similar to the one we started in at the Cornucopia – only significantly smaller, but it wasn't the Cornucopia situated smack bang in the middle of the clearing, it was a little campfire that was so perfectly set up I knew it couldn't of been a tribute who had built it. Smooth round stones stuck up from the ground around it in a circular pattern, with the wood piled up in a fancy way with a fire burning out of it. No one would build a fire. No one would even have the time or effort to make a fire this perfect, anyway. I prodded the fire with a stick, but as it caught fire and began burning away, I noticed that the wood was fixated in that position. I prodded it again, this time with a little more force but the wood failed to make any movement. "It's part of the arena." Vee confirmed, watching me.

What was the point of that? Was there always going to be a lit fire so that tributes could easily come along and use it as a barbeque as they pleased without leaving so much as a clue as they had been there? Hunting became a whole lot easier for everyone out there without having the worry of contemplating on how to cook any food they would have shot down. This also rendered the fire making station pointless during training and was a complete waste of two hours of my time there when I could've been focusing myself on doing something else instead.

Ketch threw his spear into the ground angrily, upset with the misleading clue that he thought would've lead him to his next kill. Jewel calmed him down and assured him that we would probably find another clue to where one of the other tributes would be in this endless bush land of an arena and that all we had to do was keep walking.

Just as we walked out of the clearing however, a breeze unlike the warm summer air beforehand swept past, sending a shiver down my spine. It was significantly cooler – not completely cold, but definitely colder than what it was only a few minutes ago. The light that radiated from the campfire blew out, extinguishing the extra warm heat source and condemned us to use our own vision and the little light that reflected out from the moon.

A wave of sudden fear struck through me as I imagined the worst – a pack of muttations of all sorts jumping out and eating us alive or an impending flood ready to be released by the gamemakers to wash us tributes away. I tensely held my stance, watching out for whatever could be thrown at us. The rest of the Careers were also a bit tense as we all just stood there for a little while, dazed and disorientated from the sudden change of weather and how the campfire just flicked off like a switch. A minute or two past and as Jewel loosened up before I began to feel as if I could too. She simply called for us to continue walking and that the changes were simply done to unhinge us; which they did rather well at. We were more cautious; flinching at any sudden sounds with all our pairs of eyes trained in a different direction.

The Capitol were probably laughing at us right now, the sight of us would've been just silly. We were all huddled up in a big bunch together walking in a big circle that would allow us to see from all angles. I tried to loosen up the tension by trying to create some stupid conversation because sadly, as high and mighty I might sound, I don't do so well in the dark. "The weather is nice." I said stupidly, immediately wanting to take back those four words after they had slipped out of my mouth.

"The weather was nicer a few minutes ago." Vee muttered, walking stiffly. Ketch wanted so badly to satisfyingly find at least one tribute and kill them, but right now we were bringing in no luck. Maybe it was because the ground was so crunchy with leaves that it's even scared off the night critters. Jewel suggested to Ketch that we should give it up for the night and rest, but Ketch was so adamant on finding a tribute that we all decided to rest while he took the first watch in case a tribute decides to run past us. I was a bit reluctant at first because he could easily slay us all in our sleep, but even though I tried to make an effort to stay awake, I probably fell asleep because I woke up the next morning all groggy and drained of energy in a lavish area that was painted orange.

Orange leaves fell from the sky from the tall towering trees. Wait. Bush land trees aren't deciduous. But how come all of a sudden the ground is just full of orange leaves? Just yesterday, the ground had these long, skinny pale green leaves that I believed to be gum leaves, but now the ground was coloured in a bright orange, with a hint of red and yellow here and there.

Ketch must've swapped with Jewel during the night to get his share of rest too, because Jewel was propped up against a tree whilst we all laid our heads down on the ground. I pulled myself up from my spot as Jewel fixed her eyes on me.

"Morning." I said, rubbing my eyes. I clung onto my trident which had left my grasp during the night and yawned. "Anything happen last night?" I asked.

"Well nothing much, I woke up halfway through the night and insisted to Ketch that I took my turn in watching over you guys. The leaves all changed colour right in front of my eyes at around dawn and they began to fall above our heads." She sighed. "Strange, huh. I can't figure it out, but knowing the Gamemakers, they're probably up to something already."

Maybe she was right. The Gamemakers had already started phase one of their devious plans to knock us all off.

The sun shone brightly through the gaps of the overhanging tress, reflecting off the new colours of the environment. There was no longer that warm hugging summer air we had yesterday, but a light breeze that tickled against your skin.

When I was lost in a daze examining the change of weather, a loud boom of the cannon was heard as a hovercraft appeared only a couple hundred meters west of where we were and picked up a body before materializing into the sky. This had woken up Ketch, who was now overcome with rage that if we had just kept walking a little while longer last night, that tribute would've been his kill and not whoever had just gotten to him. He paced around, cussing. Jewel and I simply exchanged a shrug of a shoulder, not really knowing what to do but let him steam off by throwing his spear into a tree before plucking it out and throwing it again repeatedly.

While everyone was still asleep, I began to reexamine the contents of my pack. My pack was a good dark blue colour that would easily blend into the night, and inside I carried my extra sheath of arrows in case I ran out of knives although I thought would be pretty impossible considering the number of them I had. A blanket. A large thermal flask that contained my two liters of water. Around eight iodine tablets. A fresh apple. A packet of dry crackers. A packet of dehydrated peas and corn. A loaf of bread filled with fruit. A small portable stove that was fueled with mentholated spirits. A packet of matches. An assortment of bandages and band aids as well as some of that useless cream that I hope one day I will actually find a use for.

"_The first thing about being a career is to take advantage of the supplies." _Shanty's voice rung through my head upon remembering the plan and I hope that behind some TV Shanty would be smugly smiling at the supplies I decided to bring unlike Ketch or Jewel who both almost had nothing in their bags but little tidbits of food and weapons. They didn't know I even decided to stash so much in my bag, but the extra weight would put me at a slight disadvantage if I were to be engaged in battle.

Everyone else woke up from their slumbers not long afterwards, brushing off the leaves that all clung onto our clothes and continued our trek to find any prey to satisfy the ever continuing rage-filled Ketch.

Walking in a group definitely trumped being alone out here. The arena was confusing, with our group walking along paths that had dead ends. We failed to find any other tribute so far and as the day wore on, we grew more tired, hungry and less hopeful. The hiking boots were of no help either – the continuous rubbing of my heel was beginning to hurt even against the thick wooly socks I had on. Some of the others must of felt it too because at one stage we just plunked our bags down just to rub our feet. I spent a considerable amount of time mummifying my feet with bandages so that it would minimize the rubbing and moved onto the others so we were all okay again to fight against whatever would come our way.

I tore off a piece of the bread and shoved it into my mouth hungrily. Danny passed me a carrot stick as he chewed on his own. We both packed pretty much the same things, except for he had a different variety of food than what I had and he carried our tent. Arjun was still yet to speak a word in front of anyone but Vee, but by now I didn't consider him a threat so I purposefully rendered his existence out of my mind.

It was mid afternoon when we decided to turn around and hike back to our base at the Cornucopia. We had trudged through an uneventful day, barely talking to each other as we continued moving along twisting paths that led us nowhere but around in circles.

I set my gaze upon the trees that were like a tight forest surrounding the paths and I realize our mistake.

"No one would walk along the paths!" I say gleefully. "I mean, of course they will at some point but why would they walk right out in the open when they could easily hide in there?" I point towards the maze of trees, towering and daunting. Sure, call us dumb for not noticing even with six pairs of eyes, but that forest… there's something about it that creeps me out and how claustrophobic it was in there.

With Ketch now rekindled and ready, we cut right through the forest towards the Cornucopia hoping we'd meet an unfortunate tribute along the way. Bring it on, I'll show Ketch that I'm not soft but the complete opposite of that._ I'm a girl with solid emotions. I have no attachments, whatsoever. Yeah._

I heard a rustle in the bush and without batting an eye; I pluck a knife from my vest pocket and throw it into the bush. I hear a faint squeak and a small crash to the ground and when I went up to inspect the bush; I realized I had just killed a rabbit.

Ketch snorts with laughter. "Ooh, my god Four, that was one mighty beast of a tribute!" He does this silly face with a little childish clap while jumping up and down momentarily before his face turns stone cold again.

He must have some sort of unknown confidence because the way that he talks is as if he already knows he's going to win or something. I shut my mouth and tell myself repeatedly not to get on Ketch's bad side. Although we're in an alliance, he could easily kill all of us if he wanted to. I just have to put up with him until the numbers dwindle down and we're forced to kill each other anyway.

Danny walked up to my side and nudges me gently. I look up at him and give him a forced smile and loop my arm around his.

"We should give those codenames for them like in spy movies," whispered Danny. "Got any ideas?"

I give a faint gesture towards Jewel and Ketch. "The fish and the pig." I said. I then looked over to Vee and Arjun. "Pretty and Useless."

Danny laughed when I suggested Arjun's name. We like teasing him because he _is _pretty useless; he's made no contribution to the alliance yet. "Nice. So what do you think about the pig?" He asked, testing out the new codenames.

"He's been annoying as hell, Danny. Always thinking he's better than everyone. I mean, even the other pigs don't get to wallow in the mud as much as he does." I said, expressing all my feelings about Ketch aloud to Danny. The funny thing is Ketch doesn't even notice it.

Even my anonymous comment gets picked up by Danny. We've been together too long, he already knows how I work. "So what are you going to do about him then?" He questioned.

"Maybe abandon him, the possibility of killing him is a little outrageous but sure sounds satisfying."

"Who's this pig you're talking about?" Ketch growled. Maybe he realized?

"I bought Jasmine a piglet only a few weeks before the reaping as a present because her family raises pigs back in District Four." Danny lied smoothly.

"I thought District Four was a _fishing _district." He was obviously unconvinced, but Danny pressed on.

"District Four can be pretty versatile, if everyone was just fishing we'd have no more fish left. Some people raise animals and others grow fruit. It's not our specialty like District 10 or 11, but it doesn't mean people don't do it."

What he said was true but my family does not raise pigs for a fact and only close to two hundred families out of the population of eleven thousand raises animals or grow fruit. Majority of them grow fruit though so Market Square always has something in season.

Ketch calmed back down and spat, "Whatever."

The second day in the arena was coming to a close as the sun began to set on the horizon as we continued to make our way through the thick mazy foliage. By this time we had quieted down so the only noise that could be heard of us was the soft rustling of our feet brushing through the leafy terrain. Apart from the death of the tribute we had heard earlier on in the morning, it had been a pretty uneventful day.

Then, a rustling. It couldn't of been us because it sounded from a distance. All us Careers paused in our tracks, waiting for the next sign of movement. Then, another rustle. _This is it. _I thought. _My chance to prove to Ketch I'm not worthless._

We all hold our breathing as a faint twig snaps roughly ten meters away. This is way too easy. If someone were to have been smart enough to avoid the bloodbath at the Cornucopia then they must have some sense at least. This person was walking around making evident noises; and it's almost impossible to not realize our existence from this close of a distance even though we're making little to no sound at all.

Another twig snaps. Then another. And another. A bush rustles. Boots clomp around. Ketch is absolutely sure it's a tribute and he's so convinced that's they're an idiot – just like what he had said about the supposed person with the campfire regime. He positions himself for attack. Knowing him, he'd be able to tackle down pretty much anyone if he could match their speed. Question was, was this person fast enough to get away from Ketch? I was poised for the fight too; I didn't want Ketch to have all the fun. Then, everything pieces itself together slowly in my mind. Ketch takes a firm grip on his spear. Everything made sense – the constant noise, the distance, _us. _Just as Ketch takes a sprint for it; I am left standing there thinking, _it's a trap._


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

It's too late. Ketch was sprinting with Jewel at his heels for support. Vee and Useless were both still standing there dazed and confused with Danny and I exchanging glances of concern because he must've picked up that it was a trap too. We don't yell though, because as mean as this sounds if Ketch and Jewel die today, we don't have to worry about them killing us later.

Sure enough, as Ketch rounds up close to a tree a simple snare catches his foot. He's left dangling on one leg in the air, the blood rushing towards head with Jewel rushing to his aid. As if expecting this, another snare catches her foot and they were both left dangling there. They were both caught up in a messy bundle of rope; with their hands intertwined with the only limb free was their other leg.

I assess my options. We could run to their aid and help them out of the snares and continue a strong alliance built on trust and risk the possibility of being snared ourselves. We could run away now and let them both die a horrible death dangling from a tree. We could wait for a tribute to come out and _think _that they're the only two wandering around and allow them to kill them both. Or, we could wait for them to come out, kill them, and then release Ketch and Jewel.

Option four it is! I thought as the four of us continued to hide in silence. A girl with a small backpack unlike the large hiking packs that we only managed to find crept out with a dart ready to fire at their necks. Her eyes shot around the forest area to scan for other helpers – which she failed to notice. Danny looked really uncomfortable because the girl could easily kill Ketch and Jewel right now since they were both so vulnerable. I held an arm out to hold him back and I shook my head. He was tense and I was glad I chose option four because any other option involving them dying would've been catastrophic.

Ketch was struggling to get out of the rope as he was shaking around hopelessly. Jewel had already given up as she just lay there, still.

I recognized the girl from District 8. She was more brain than brawn, as she fumbled around with the dart in her hand. She must've felt good snagging up two Careers because she began smirking.

"Think you're so strong now do you?" She sneered, as Ketch and Jewel's eyes were trained on the dart she held. "Think you can… kill us all now?"

Jewel must've noticed that we were still hiding as she yelled out, "They're no more snares, aren't there?"

"No." The girl said. "The brunette only set up two. I just hung around for a kill count." She stopped right in front of their faces. "Well, nice meeting you both."

"Now!" I yelled, as Danny and I began charging towards the girl. I picked up the dart from her hand easily and threw it to the ground. Now disarmed, I grabbed her by the collar and rammed her back into a tree. "Who's this brunette?" I demanded. If this girl only hid in a tree to wait for victims, then whoever actually set up the trap is more of a threat than she was, especially since her grip was so light. She refused to answer. "Tell me!"

"I-I don't k-k-know!" She stammered, trying to loosen my grip with no luck. "I was in the t-t-tree when she was setting the trap up. S-s-she was with a b-boy."

"Thanks for your pathetic information." I said harshly, pulling a knife from my sleeve. This is not me; I don't say these things… "Well, nice meeting you." I mimicked as her eyes widened with horror as I drove it into her heart.

The cannon sounded as I pulled the knife back out and cleaned it on her clothes before sliding it back into my sleeve. I turned back around to see Danny helping Ketch and Jewel out.

"I had her!" Ketch growled; clearly upset stomping up to me after Danny released him.

"Sure, you were _dangling _from a _tree._" I retorted. "You should be happy that we even helped you or else you both would've had cannons sounding for your deaths."

This shut Ketch up as he was cussing under his breath. Jewel thanked the both of us. As we continued towards the Cornucopia, a hovercraft materialized above our heads and picked the girl up.

We got back to our base camp before light overwhelmed us as we rummaged through the food packs we had stored away in a tree trunk and we made a meal. Along the way back to base, Vee had killed a wallaby – a small hopping creature – and allowed Jewel to skin it. Preparing a bread loaf, slicing a block of cheese and shredding a cabbage, we lit a warm fire, unafraid of other tributes. We cooked the wallaby in slices in the fire before making a fine sandwich out of them as we munched into them hungrily. If there's a tribute out there, they'd think twice before coming to kill us. There are six of us and what, seven of them? Unless they'd all created an alliance and somehow magically became stronger, they would never stand a chance against us. Minus Useless though, he would just stand back and get killed by someone.

All that I had carried around with me today weapon wise was my great number of knives and my sheath of… sixteen or so arrows? I had left my number of tridents stashed away in several logs or hollow trees concealing them with mud. Besides, they were too heavy to carry around the place.

After eating, we wanted to try out these tents because it was getting quite chilly but I didn't get how we would build a tent that was _so _light. A tent cannot be that light unless it has no poles to hold it up – and it's almost impossible to erect a tent without poles. I should know with the many beachside camping trips my parents took me on because we'd be able to catch fish without having to travel down.

Danny pulled our tent out of his hiking bag and began to examine the bag it was concealed in. It looked almost like a fatter version of a sleeping bag. "Looks okay. Doesn't look like it has some sort of random booby trap attached to it." Danny exclaimed. I could almost hear Juliae Casher speaking. _Really? You really think we're going to rig a tent? That's no fun._

Danny pulled the tent out of the bag as it popped out onto the ground. Almost immediately, the tent began to slowly inflate itself into shape. "If I win the games, I'm getting myself one of these." I grinned at Danny who just laughed.

"You could buy a house by the beachside with the money if you won. Why would you want a shabby old tent?" He asked.

"Because it's cool." I stated, circling it. I looked inside, it was huge! The others had already passed the wow factor of the tent because they were already chucking their stuff into it and getting themselves comfortable. The roof and the door of the tent were transparent so it wasn't too bad in there in case of an ambush. We had all plotted our tents in a line with the back of it facing the Cornucopia so it would be easy to guard while everyone was sleeping.

Danny opted to guard for the night but since we hadn't done much apart from kill the girl from eight, I said I would stay up with him for the first shift. Vee said that she would guard for the second half of the night but Danny insisted that we'd probably be okay for the next day without sleep and even if did feel tired we'd just go to sleep while the other one still guards. Giving in, she promised to guard for the next night though.

With everyone lying in their tents with nothing but a blanket around them due to the Cornucopia's lack of sleeping bags, we watched the sky through the transparency of our tent roofs. The seal appeared and anthem began to play as we watched the girl from eight appear on the screen. How despicable did I look from the televisions back in District 8? How many people are grieving her death right now? These questions popped into my mind as I felt guilty for my act of showing off in front of Ketch. This is what he must've meant when he said I was soft.

Danny's eyes widened as the next face appeared. I turned to look and I recognized the face almost immediately. I remembered the little encounters Danny had with him in the training room, especially the bench pressing that they both loved so much. Those little encounters must've been somewhat meaningful because Danny was distraught. "I really liked him." He said with a tremble to his voice. "It was like having brother."

I hugged him tightly and we didn't let go for a really long time. There were no words that could comfort Danny right now – or anyone that felt this way for that matter. It was like having this emptiness inside of you, knowing that someone had passed away. The boy from District 10, I hope you had a good life before the Hunger Games ate it up.

Two people had died today. Not so much of a big deal compared to previous years but since our Career pack were still going strong they're going to bring up some sort of twist to things soon. I could feel it.

Huddled up together in each other's arms, we spent the night like this staring out into the distance on the top of the Cornucopia for a bit of a bird's eye view of things. Sure enough, something miraculous happened.

Unlike the summer air that hugged us on the first day or the cooling sensation on the second, the breeze that swept past was beyond abnormal. It was like a piece of ice had been dropped into your shirt and it was slowly making its way down your back. I shivered and ran down to grab our blankets and wrapped them around us. The trek six meters down to our tent and back up again made it a bit better but it was absolutely freezing. The thermals bounced the body heat off slightly and kept us warm partially, but sitting here unmoving was not helping. Danny and I had to get up and walk, so we paced around on top of the Cornucopia, our boots clumping around. I didn't want to make so much noise but if we had just sat there it would've made us colder so we risked being told off from the others.

The temperature of the whole place was really unsettling because I couldn't even focus on keeping watch when I couldn't even manage to warm myself up. My face was fixed to the floor of the Cornucopia, golden and glistening, only flicking it up briefly from time to time to watch the looming forest ahead of us in case a figure jumps out.

"Maybe it'll be better if you go to sleep. You won't have to worry about the cold." Danny whispered loud enough for me to hear.

"Me? Sleep? In this temperature? Even if I did go to sleep, I wouldn't even be able to open my eyes in the morning because they would've frozen shut overnight." I exclaimed sadly. Danny gave a light laugh as we continued to stomp around loudly. "Let's get our minds off the cold. Um, let's play a game." I said.

"What game?" Danny asked, still focused on his footsteps.

"I don't know; how about you tell me a joke or a riddle or something?" I asked back.

"Er, alright." He cleared his throat and thought for a bit. "Okay so a rich man from the Capitol and a poor man from the Capitol and tooth fairy are walking down the street. They happen to cross upon a wad of cash lying on the ground. One of them has to pick it up. Who picks it up?"

I think for a bit, trying to decipher the answer. "The tooth fairy." I exclaimed. "Because the tooth fairy needs money to trade for people's teeth." Stupid answer, but hey, it's not like my life depends on it.

"Wrong," he said. "The rich man from the Capitol does because the other two don't exist." I think about it for a moment. The tooth fairy is understandable but the poor man… ohh! There are no poor people in the Capitol; they're all so stinking rich they're swimming in cash. I give a hearty laugh and I am forced to stop to catch a breath. Danny stopped to look at me strangely.

"It wasn't _that _funny Jasmine." He said as we began to walk again. "How about you tell me a joke now?"

"Don't know any more that you don't already know." I said.

"How about we play 'would you rather'?" he suggested. We used to play this game on the dingy a lot before when we were bored and no fish were biting.

"Sure." I said. "I'll go first." I thought about things that we haven't asked each other. "Would you rather a mansion or a castle?"

"A house." He frowned. "Mansions and castles are _huge. _Even if my whole family and your whole family lived in there, it'll still be like an empty shell."

"Just choose one Danny." I insisted.

"Fine. A castle. I'll be your prince." He beamed cheekily as I gave him a light punch. "Alright, my turn. Would you rather a prince on a white horse or a white horse on a prince?"

"What type of question is that?" I laughed, imagining a white horse sitting on a prince. He ushered me for my answer. "I'd go for a dashing white horse sitting on top of a prince any day."

"I want to be a white horse in my next life then." He chuckled.

We went on like this for hours, asking each other questions and playing word games and telling jokes. Our minds were off of the cold and on each other rather than keeping watch, but nothing but the wind was howling and we were having a good time. Besides, I think the amount of noise we made told anyone out there that we were awake and pretty damn lively.

Danny and I were consumed in our seventh round of this game where you name a fruit or vegetable and the next person would think of another one that begins with the letter the last one ended with until no one can think of anymore; when the sun's rays began to glisten over the horizon as something magical happened before our eyes. All the leaves on the trees of the forest dropped to the ground leaving the trees bare and snow suddenly began to appear, carpeting the floor of the arena. Light snow fell from the sky, but not in great amounts to what appeared on the ground. The tents were now surrounded with snow and the temperature warmed up slightly only due to the sun's presence. We never really got snow in District 4, I think we only have once but it was so long ago I don't even remember much of it. But, what was falling around me and what covered the floor was unmistakably the cold ice from many years ago.

We stopped talking and jumped down towards the tents, the snow reaching a little bit past my ankles. I trudged my way through and opened the tent door and got in along with Danny. Shutting the door again, I felt the air and it was strangely warm.

"I think this tent must have central heating in it or something." Danny said, trying to look for this 'central heating'. "I don't know, but we weren't in here the whole night and for some reason it's warm in here."

"Don't fret the details. It's warm in here. It's cold outside. Where do you want to be?" I shivered, looking around. As if in answer, Danny plopped himself down and wrapped his blanket around himself.

"Do you think we got any sponsors?" He asked.

"If we did, I think we would've gotten something by now." I replied. "I don't think any of the other Careers got any sponsors either yet. I wonder what our mentors are all doing." I knew that since we were in the Career alliance all the mentors from 1, 2 and 4 would all team up to keep us alive. Thing was, we had all the supplies we needed and we were far from dead so I guess they didn't need to worry about us so much.

"I wish they could send us some of those scones with jam and cream though." Danny licked his lips, looking up into the air as if it was a request. "They were to die for." I nudged him slightly and giggled.

"Don't jinx it man!" I exclaimed. After awhile we went silent and I could feel tiredness begin to sweep over me. "Maybe… we should check on the others."

Danny insisted that only he went out to check because it was warm inside of the tent compared to the freezing cold environment that awaited us outside. He came back soon after to see me having a fight with myself trying to stay awake. "You can go to sleep you know. I'll keep watch by myself. The others are all still sleeping but I think they'll wake up soon enough."

I didn't argue with him as I lay my head down and drifted off into a deep sleep…

I awoke to see a winter wonderland outside. The place was covered in white – the trees, the floor and the sky was dropping those little flakes of snow too adding to the whiteness of it all. Danny wasn't in the tent and I couldn't see the other tents from where I was either. "Afternoon, sunshine." A high pitched voice chimed. I shot right up to see Vee sitting next to me looking out through the transparent door. "Your boyfriend asked me to look after you."

I was confused. I thought the protocol was, _don't trust anybody? _And Danny leaves me with a Career that could've killed me while he was gone. "Where did he go?" I asked her.

"He went with the others to survey the place. Jewel wanted to know whether this ever changing weather occurred throughout the whole arena."

"Did Usele- I mean Arjun go with them?" I asked.

"Nah he's sitting on the Cornucopia on lookout." She replied. Vee buried her face in her hands. "Am I stupid or what?"

"What?" _What is she on about?_

"Arjun."

"Yeah, I was wondering. Why do you even like that guy? He watches us fight while he stands back and fumbles with his fingers or something. He doesn't even talk to us although we're in an alliance. Is he normally like this?"

"Well… back at home Arjun is like this magnet or something. All the girls follow him around at school just to be near him. Except at the time, I was never really interested in him. I just thought he was another one of those guys who thought he was better than everyone else and was flaunting it." Vee said, reminiscing.

"I really can't imagine him like that. Apart from the looks of course, he sounds much more confident than he looks." I commented.

Vee simply smiled and continued with her story. "One day, only around five months ago Arjun approached me with that brimming smile of his. Of course, all the girls were still following him then and for some reason, he approached _me. _I never really got why he did when he had so many girls that would gladly be his any day and he comes to talk to a girl he doesn't care about him. Anyway, all I remember on that day is that he had complimented my hair." Vee twirled her wavy locks around her finger, looking at it. "Every day after that though, he would try flatter me with a compliment. You know, my clothes, my hair, my eyes, my smile… All that corny stuff. At first I thought it was annoying, especially since all the girls began to threaten me to stay away from him although he was the one that was coming to me but after around two months I gave in and tried to befriend him properly instead of him just complimenting me all the time.

"I found out later he didn't just have smoldering looks, he was genuinely a funny guy and always found a way to make me laugh. So we'd talk every day, at school, after school, on the weekend. He'd somehow always manage to find me and talk to me. He was good company most of the time. Sometimes though it got a bit creepy." Vee chuckled slightly and I gave a light laugh too, as she continued. "A month ago I realized I started to like him…" Her voice trailed off and her cheeks flushed beet red.

"And that's why you guys kissed in the training centre?" I asked.

"No, that's not the reason. A month ago I told my friend that I liked him in that way and she must've told someone else who told him because a week later he asked me out."

"So you two are together?"

"Let me continue. So, when he asked me out I was hesitant at first and never really gave him an answer to this day. He knew that I liked him and everything… I volunteered for the Hunger Games because my cousin was reaped, but him, he simply got pulled out of the ballot like usual. No one volunteered from him though, even though we are a Career district and all. It was bad luck. When we were on the train to the Capitol, he asked me out again. I turned him down… besides, why get involved in a relationship if you're fighting to the death anyway?" She forced a laugh. "That kiss at the training centre… I was upset, I felt weak and he just took advantage of my vulnerability at the time. I was angry at him for doing that… it was actually my first kiss."

I understood everything Vee was talking about. This Arjun, I have a completely new perspective on him. He's not just that useless guy that stands back and does nothing; he was a popular guy back from where he came from. A guy that attracted the attention of a lot of people and would try hard to get what he wanted – and in this case he wanted Vee. I could tell that Vee really did love him and the only thing that was separating her from voicing that love was their impending death.

"Wow." I exclaimed, exhaling. "That's quite a story."

She blushed and nodded. "How about you and Danny?" Vee asked. "You know, how did you guys get together?"

I was laughing at the thought because Danny and I did get together as a joke at first. I opened my mouth to tell her the story when the cannon sounded, startling us. "Who do you think that was?" I asked.

"I don't know. Maybe Ketch got to them." She chuckled. Then I thought wait; Ketch and Jewel are from the same district and Danny is with them. Both of them are very capable of taking Danny down, especially since he's not strong enough against them.

"Do you think Ketch would've killed Danny?" I asked. Signs of concern must've been written all over my face because Vee just smiled and shook her head.

"There are other guys Ketch would rather kill than Danny right now. Unless Danny made himself an enemy of Ketch – which I don't think he's dumb enough to do so, anyway." She reassured.

I took a sigh of relief as I calmed back down. "I was wondering. Why did Danny leave you to guard me?"

"Oh I don't know. He hasn't had a wink of sleep but he insisted that he went with Ketch and Jewel. He didn't want to leave you alone sleeping either though so he asked me to look after you while you were still out of it."

"But, I'm not saying this in a bad way or anything but why you?" I asked. If we were supposed to not trust anyone then why did he leave me?

Vee laughed. "None taken, Jas – you mind if I call you that right? Well Danny didn't say much but he just asked me for help and I helped him."

"Nah I was just thinking – you could've easily killed me and walked off with Arjun."

"And leave Danny to hunt me? Jas, you should know I'd never kill you." Vee gave me this winning smile and sounded so promising that I knew I might just end up befriending her although I knew deep down that I really shouldn't get too attached.

"Well, I'm glad he left me with you and not Ketch." I laughed. Vee laughed with me and waved her hand while shaking her head.

"I don't think Danny would leave you with Ketch. I can tell you two are like two bombs just waiting to go off. Besides, Ketch isn't the type to just sit around guarding a sleeping tribute."

"That's true." The tent was still toasty warm and I really didn't want to leave it and Vee didn't look like she wanted to either so we just stayed there talking. It was nice to get to know her although I kept yelling at myself in my head to not trust her or befriend her. After time though, I think I gave in. She was way too nice of a person not to like, and she reminded me of a sister I never had.

The day flew by and by dinner Danny, Ketch and Jewel all made their way back to us, shivering from the cold. Ketch however, didn't look fazed by the weather. He had this triumphant smirk to his face and was boldly stomping around as if he owned the place.

"Did the pig manage to haul in his kill?" I whispered to Danny, who shrugged.

"He thinks he killed her, but I honestly think she just died from the cold." He replied back in a whisper.

"Oh." I mouthed, pulling him into the warm tent. Danny's lips were blue from the cold and his clothes were wet from the snow melting into them. I took his vest and his thermal off, draping them over my hiking pack and then moved back to get Danny's cargo pants. I left him there with nothing but his briefs on and chuckled slightly.

"You like seeing me like this don't you? Naked and vulnerable?" He mumbled.

"You're not naked." I stated. "You still have your briefs on. Plus, I'm drying your clothes for you so be quiet or else you can wear them cold." I pulled my vest off and then my thermals, giving my thermals to Danny to wear. He pushed them back into my hands as I refused. "You wear it. I've been in here all day. I'll just wear my vest." I said, pulling the vest back over my body. He frowned but after awhile he obliged.

After Danny's clothes were all dry, he gave me back my thermals so I easily slid them back over my body, and fixed my vest back on top. Night was falling, and the ever changing weather was confusing me to no end. The young blonde girl who started off at the Cornucopia next to me appeared in the sky that night and I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. She seemed so young, so weak…

"If you were right about her just dying from the cold, I guess I can understand… she's so small." I mumbled to Danny.

"Well Ketch never really threw a weapon into her. He caught her and buried her in snow, but I think by the time he caught her she died from the cold anyway since she didn't struggle when Ketch threw her into the ground." I imagined the poor little girl all curled up with fear from massive Ketch, trying to get away on her short legs which were never going to be able to get away from him no matter what she did.

"Did you find anything interesting on your surveying of the arena?" I asked, curious about the environment.

"Well the snow covered the whole place, so I'm assuming the whole arena is affected by the outrageous weather. You know that clearing where we found the fire? It was replaced with a small pool of water. Fresh, streaming water." I imagined the clearing – so neat and so circular with that miniature pool situated right in the perfect centre with water running down it. "Oh, to the west there's a huge mountain. I don't know what's up there but the contour is _huge_. Towards the east there is a river running downstream from north to south with bridges to cross it. I don't know how many bridges there are, but I've only seen one so far. Past that there is another clearing but it's a bit more exposed since it doesn't have a forest surrounding it. All there is are huge rocks."

From what Danny was saying, the arena is huge. There seemed like there was no end, and sitting smack bang in the middle of the arena might not be helping at all. I was really interested with the arena and about all the other little things Danny's expedition may have missed today, so I really wanted to get out there and see the place for myself tomorrow.

I knew that the tents were probably bugged and had cameras hidden in them but they were well concealed so I didn't even bother looking for them. I wondered what the others were doing, running about in the forest or something. The two from District 3 I hadn't even seen since the bloodbath – they probably hiked out of that place really fast.

Arjun and Vee took their turn on guard and when I looked out from the transparent doorway that morning, all the snow had cleared and flowers bloomed in their place. The air was perforated with all the different scents from all the flowers. The clearing that we were in became a meadow; with the grass gently swaying in the soft wind and the daisies all clustered together in bunches.

I got out of the tent along with Danny and we both scanned our eyes around the area. "Spring." The familiar voice of Vee chimed near me, looking around.

Turning to look at her, I cocked an eyebrow. "Spring?" I asked, confused.

"If you think about it it's not all that confusing," she began, looking back at me with those cute little round eyes of hers. "The first day was hot. The second day had orange leaves. The third day had snow. And now there's flowers blooming everywhere?" She gave me that look as if asking '_do you get what I'm trying to say?' _I continued to give her this blank stare as she rolled her eyes. "Hot. Summer. Orange leaves. Autumn. Snow. Winter. Flowers. Spring. It's all four seasons." She stated, as my mouth formed an O shape as I finally got it.

"If the four days represent all four seasons, what's going to happen tomorrow?" I asked. Well, really there are a few ways it could go. The cycle could repeat itself. The seasons could generate at random. The weather could change to other environments instead of just the seasons like deserts, rainforest etc. I just hope that doesn't happen though.

"Well I don't know. I guess we'll have to wait and see." She replied.

"Where are Arjun and the District Oners?" I asked her, looking at the empty tents.

"Um, Arjun walked off somewhere and the other two are out hunting I think. Taking advantage of weather again I think they said." Wow, I haven't done much for a few days since I don't think I have talked to Ketch or Jewel since day 2, and it's currently the dawn of day 4.

"Let's pack up the things. We can't campout at the Cornucopia forever. I want to see what the rest of the arena is like." I said, throwing all of the things out of our tent. Vee agreed and began on her tent while Danny went and tried to fix up District 1's tent.

After we all packed up our things and stuffed our hiking bags full with them, Danny etched a note onto the steel of the Cornucopia.

_District 1 and Arjun,_

_We're bored so we're going to go exploring. I think we're going to head towards the bridge we saw yesterday and work our way towards the mountain. We've got your things with us so don't worry. If you don't find us by nightfall, you know where the extra supplies are._

_From Danny_

As I read the note, I tackled Danny. "You know you just gave away that we had the extra supplies stashed away." I said with an accusing tone. Danny slapped his forehead and looked back at his note trying to figure out how to get rid of his fairly evident clue.

"I don't think I can get rid of it. I carved it in too well." He frowned, trying to cover up the words by scratching it. He managed to clear out the most evident part of the words but by the end you could still kind of see what he was intending to write, but obviously it was still staring at you in the face. It was my turn to shrug, so I did and waved my hand in dismissal.

"Whatever. Just leave it. Let's go." I said, moving towards a path closest to me. Vee and Danny stopped in their tracks when they looked at me.

"Jasmine," Danny called to me. "You're going the wrong way. East is that way." He pointed to the opposite direction. I slapped my forehead this time. "There's no path going directly east, but we can always cut through the forest. It's not too bad."

"How do you know that's east?" I grumble under my breath, following Danny and Vee. He chuckled and threw his arm around my shoulder.

"You're so adorable when you know you're wrong." He teased. "The sun rises in the east, remember?"

I pushed past him and looked through to the forest. It was really beautiful today, all the birds were singing and animals were all scurrying about. It was the complete opposite of yesterday. "What's past the forest?" I asked Danny.

"I believe it's the stream I told you about yesterday." He replied, following after me.

I noticed that Vee was kind of trailing behind us, maybe because she thought it was awkward being the third wheel or something so I slowed down to talk to her. "Hey." I managed to get out. I really didn't know what to say.

"Hi." She said. "You can go with Danny. Don't worry about me. I don't want to bother you guys." Vee smiled and pushed me to go to Danny which I refused.

"Nah it's alright." I smiled. "He can last without me for a little while. How are you going?" I asked her.

"Alright I guess."

"Wondering where Arjun is?"

Vee paused. "Yeah… I think I still like him…" She confessed.

"I can tell." I said cheekily. She frowned.

"Is it that obvious?"

"I don't know," I started. "I feel as if I've known you for so long I can read your expressions." Vee beamed at this. Knowing that I've accepted her as a friend, and acknowledging how close I feel to her seemed to make her happy. Her smile was so sincere and so genuine I couldn't help but smile along with her. "So, what are you going to do about it?"

"I think I'll tell him." She breathed, her smile still stretched out across her face. "Even though these may just be our last days together. I want to spend them with him."

"That's the spirit." I said. I felt so happy for her, even though I've known Vee for like what, a week? It felt like the games brought Sera in with me; only in a different form. Her personality was retained – and it felt so much like _home. _If I can help it, I will do my best to keep Vee alive for as long as possible.

The forest was quite dense as we maneuvered our way through the trees, easily shooting down a few squirrels for breakfast. We didn't exactly know how to cook them, but Danny had seemed to have picked up this strange ability to think critically. He made a fire, but he didn't need kindling since none of the wood was damp and placed a stone on top of the small fire. It wasn't large enough to smother the fire, but it was a big enough surface. No evident smoke seeped out as the stone began to heat up, becoming a hot stove. So, I slowly cooked pieces of squirrel on the stone.

When the food was ready, we began munching it down. Vee and Danny seemed to like the bland taste of the squirrel whereas I didn't like it at all. It was squishy, chewy and there was something about it that didn't make me feel that well.

After the unsatisfying meal, Danny said that we should continue plowing onwards towards the stream. We didn't exactly have an objective but a bit of exploring and if we run into another tribute, I guess it's an added bonus.

We didn't even get far before I felt this tickle in my throat as I felt queasy. I stopped and threw my hiking pack off. I stood there panting, trying to catch my breath and faced the ground. "Are you okay?" Vee asked when she saw me. Danny rushed over, throwing his pack onto the ground as well. He leaned down and patted my back.

"Was the squirrel cooked enough?" He asked with concern.

"I'm sure it was." I said hoarsely, still feeling something tickling in my throat. Then, I could feel my food coming back up as I pushed Danny out of the way as I rushed over to the base of a tree and belched. Danny didn't know what to do but watch me vomit my guts out. Vee couldn't take it so she walked in the opposite direction out of the smell's reach for awhile. I could understand; I wouldn't want to be around me either.

After I finished, Danny asked me if I was okay again. I don't know why, but it didn't seem like it was the food's fault. Maybe it was the weather. "I'm alright now." I said after I had cleaned myself up. "I'll have a bath when we get to the stream. So, let's get going." I hoisted the hiking pack up onto my back and continued the trek. Danny was really worried about me and kept asking me if I was okay the whole time we were walking down. As much as he wanted to hold onto my hiking pack as well as his, it would've been too much of a handful for him but I insisted we kept going.

By afternoon I felt a lot better and ate _tons _of food. I just kept shoving more and more into my mouth and by the time I was full, I had realized I had probably eaten most of Danny and Vee's share too. They didn't mind though, figuring that I was just super hungry considering I had vomited out breakfast.

We just about made it towards the end of the forest as I could almost see the clearing. We were cautious though, in case there was some sort of traps like the girl from District 8 was loitering around. Since I was the best at climbing out of us three, I had already thrown my bag to the ground and pulled myself up the tree before anyone could protest. The trees here were a bit more climbable than the ones around the Cornucopia, with more branches for me to grasp at. The trunk was long, so I was up at around twenty-eight meters as I scanned my eyes across our destination.

"You see anything?" Danny called from far down below. His voice was echoing through the trees, I told him that I couldn't really see anything but I was going to look a bit further. I climbed a few more meters up, barely being able to see the ground with all the foliage around. I could see it – the clearing in the distance just behind the stream. Everything was so clear thanks to my good eyesight as I could just see in the middle of the clearing wasn't the small lit fire we saw on the first night, or the cascading water Danny had mentioned yesterday. Instead, it was replaced with a small tree that bared fruit – I think they were green apples or something small and green anyway.

I could hear faint laughter and splashing of water as I cast my eyes back down to the stream. There was a tall girl with tanned skin and long brown hair just running about in the water. She was unarmed and half naked – well just down to her under clothing anyway – and she wasn't running alone. A guy emerged from the rocks and tackled her into the water. He was topless and I couldn't really make out his face but he planted his lips on hers as they frolicked around. I could see his hands run down her slender body as she ran her fingers down his. The boy grabbed her ass tightly and squeezed it; as she didn't make any notice of it because her face was so fixated on his. They made out in the water with their bare skin touching each other. Caressing. Squeezing. Kissing. Touching.

A silver parachute floated past my face as I momentarily broke my gaze off from the couple in the distance to fumble with the tightly wrapped parcel. It was a pair of binoculars. Seriously sponsors, out of all the things you could invest in, you're telling me to be more of a creeper and watch them? Oh well, no matter.

I held the binoculars in place as I looked back for the couple. My eyes had flickered past the small tree in the middle of the clearing in the distance again only to see that the fruit were in fact green apples. I have to go there and pick them as snacks later, but now I'm curious about the couple.

I found the couple again and this time the guy was licking the girl's navel. She seemed to be gasping and moaning as he leant her against a smooth rock, still placing little kisses on her all over. He walked over to the other side of her and looked up out towards my direction. That's when I saw his face. And that's when; I felt anger strike through me.

_Arjun._

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**So what did you think? Suspenseful heyhey?  
>Anyway, so my vocabulary isn't fantastic and I tend to repeat the same words over and over again, but all I'm concerned about is the storyline! Please tell me how you think that's going! :)<br>**

**Also, I have in mind a plan of a sequel for this story. It won't be anywhere near as long, but it'll serve as just a really long epilogue.  
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**I plan to finish Chapter Seven while things at school are still not too bad. Things are going to pick up in two weeks though, so after that the Chapters might come out monthly. Sorry for that. (I'm in Senior Year after all!)  
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	7. Chapter 7

**Hi guys! I'd like to say a thank you to everyone who is actually reading my fanfic. I really appreciate it and it would be fantastic if you could give me a review!  
>So the seventh chapter is out! The eighth won't be out for a couple of weeks since I have a lot of tests coming up and my mid years. (It's Australia, after all!) Senior year is very important to me, and writing this fanfic sadly is becoming a major distraction. I will however, without fail, continue this.<br>**

**Okay so this chapter is going to be really cheesy, corny and revolving A LOT about romance. This is the only chapter that I intend to have such a dominant theme (because really, romance and stuff is kinda not my thing...) and I intend to dive into the action in the chapters to come. I can assure you, the real suspense will follow soon.  
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**By the way, the girl's name is pronounced "Lah-key" or "La-kki".  
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><p><strong>Chapter Seven<strong>

I thought of all the things he could've been doing. Walking around, guarding, gathering berries, hunting or moping under some tree. Anything but _this! _The thought disgusted me. From Mr. Corny, to Useless to somewhat-Mr. Popular to _unfaithful? _This is way too much for me to handle. Geez, I hope Danny doesn't do this behind my back. I would kill him.

So here I am, around thirty meters up in a tree with a pair of binoculars watching Arjun prance around with a half naked girl. She looked like the girl from District 9 – the one I supposed he was asking for relationship advice in the training centre – and they didn't seem to care about whether someone would just jump out and kill them right now.

I climbed slowly back down the tree, making sure each and every step I took was a safe one as I tried to recollect my thoughts. Arjun is a hundred meters away from us, feeling up some girl. Arjun supposedly loved Vee. Vee loves Arjun. Vee wants to confess to Arjun. But Arjun is feeling up some girl right now. Argh! My head hurts.

"Any traps or anything?" Vee asked me when my foot reached the ground.

"Nah there's nothing from what I could see." I said. _Only that the guy you love is totally making out with another girl right now._

"We all good to go?" Danny asked.

"Could we have a bit of a rest? Climbing made me tired." I lied. _I'm not tired. I'm just hoping I can distract you both from seeing something you don't want to see._

"Sure." Danny shrugged, throwing his hiking pack back onto the ground. He leant his back against the tree trunk and took a sip of water from his water bottle. "Did you see anything? And where did you get those binoculars?" He asked, pointing to the binoculars strapped around my chest. Luckily they came on a strap, or else I would have been forced to somehow shove them into one of my many vest pockets.

"There's an apple tree in the clearing up ahead. On the other side of the stream." I exclaimed, pulling out my own water bottle. "The binoculars were sent by a sponsor when I was on top of the tree."

"I wonder what they're for…" He examined the binoculars for a little while before realizing I had answered his other question. "That's the same clearing that I saw having a little water fountain-like thing there." He frowned. "You don't suppose the things in the middle of the clearings also change in accordance to the season?"

"It's possible." Vee butted in. "On the first night – summer – there was a campfire. Winter there was streaming water. Today is spring and we have an apple tree. I wonder what's in autumn."

"A pile of orange leaves?" I laughed. Danny and Vee gave me these strange looks before pulling out some snacks. Danny offered me some dry biscuits as I gladly accepted one and nibbled on it. Anything to waste the time right now; anything to keep Vee away from the horrible sight only a hundred meters away.

Around fifteen minutes had passed before Danny suggested moving along and I couldn't object anymore because I had already delayed the break for an extra ten minutes. So, all I could do was cross my fingers, tread through the forest and hope to reach the stream without any sight of Arjun or the girl from District 9.

Thankfully there was no sign of them when we reached the stream several minutes later and with this, I took one long strained sigh. Such a relief! Vee was such a good girl, and I know the whole 'don't judge a book by its cover' thing, but Arjun is beginning to piss me off in ways you can't imagine. Before, I thought he was just stupid, useless and annoying but now he's simply become annoying.

I stripped off my clothes until I had nothing but my underclothing on and I bathed myself in the stream. It was okay temperature wise so I wasn't freezing my butt off and I could always dry the clothes in the easily rectifiable tent that we had stashed away in our hiking packs.

The stream was clear; you could see the little pebbles lying on the bottom of it with a slow current moving through. It had no evidence of fish living in the stream though, so that was crossed off the menu. I waded through the cool water, scrubbing myself off of any grime I had accumulated in the past four days while Danny and Vee were on looking on both sides of the stream, ready to hold back any sudden attacks. Nothing came though thankfully, and both Vee and Danny took their turns in bathing with my turn to be on guard. After we were all fresh and clean, we filled up our water bottles, dropped an iodine tablet in each, and set off towards the green apple tree in the clearing up ahead.

The clearing was in full view right from the stream; it was roughly the same size as the one we had encountered on the first night, as the apple tree seemed to stand firmly, the apples glistening in the sun. It was so close, as we steadily made haste towards it – making sure there were no traps set along the way – before we began plucking the apples off the tree like there was no tomorrow.

I took a bite out of one; it's sweet and sour juices flowing into my mouth filling it up with this mix of fruity sensations that reminded me so much of the apples they sold back at Market Square. It was delicious and the most flavorsome thing I had ever eaten since the beginning of the games.

Vee, Danny and I all remained in the clearing until the sun just began to tip back over in the sky, signaling that afternoon had hit and it was time we headed back in the other direction. There were endless amounts of rocks past the clearing in all directions except for the paths back to the stream, so we decided to just go back the way we had come from.

"Danny, you said earlier that there were bridges to cross the stream… but why would we need bridges if the water is so shallow?" I asked him when we were cutting back across through the small rocks back towards the stream where we bathed. He turned to me after placing his foot on a firm stone.

"I'm not sure myself. There weren't any bridges where we were probably because we weren't on the path. But… the reasons as to why the part we crossed was shallow, I don't know." We crossed the stream by simply wading through the water back out the other side to the forest. We were headed back towards the Cornucopia to see whether Ketch and Jewel decided to come back from their hunting trip yet or whether Mr. Thinks-he-can-get-any-girl-he-wants had decided to come back home.

We made it back to the Cornucopia faster than when we had left and Ketch and Jewel were nowhere to be found. However, I heard a high pitched squeal as Vee squirmed on the spot with excitement with the biggest smile across her face before she ran over to the mouth of the Cornucopia. I saw her embrace someone – and it was none other than Arjun himself. What a ratbag. Well, I don't think we're going to execute the other half of our plan to trek towards the mountain now. Luckily for me, he doesn't know I saw him that morning with the girl, who I'm actually curious as to how he found her in the first place without the aid of any technological devices and where in this entire arena she could be hiding as of this very moment.

As we rounded up closer to the mouth of the Cornucopia, I could see Danny feel happy for Vee – and sure, I'd be ecstatic as well if I didn't make that little trip up the tree this morning. Danny nuzzled up closer to me as he looped his arm around mine and kissed my head before we saw Vee talking to Arjun. I couldn't make out what she was saying, but she was obviously really nervous with the way she was fumbling around with her hands, making random motions with them in the air. She took a deep breath and her mouth moved quickly before Arjun's eyes lit up and he embraced her. He pulled back out of the embrace quickly to pull her into a deep kiss and this time, she didn't break it off.

There are so many things I wish I could say right now. Vee's confession just made things more complicated for me and frankly I wouldn't be caring if she didn't remind me so much of Sera. I clasped my necklace tightly around in my fist, watching the scene unravel in front of my eyes. What would Sera – the most compassionate and caring person in the whole wide world do in this situation? Oh how I wish a sponsor would give me the gift of 'phone a friend' right now. Only that poses two problems: how on earth with a sponsor send me a phone call as a gift, and plus, Sera doesn't even have a phone anyway. Most people don't own telephones in our district despite being the Career district. Just because we're a Career district, doesn't mean that we have the money to live like the Capitol.

I sat in our tent that we had set back up again, rethinking the whole situation. I've been doing a lot of thinking today, haven't I? Anyway, after awhile Vee came in, eyes shining and all. "So you two together now?" I asked her in a cheery voice, trying to cover up how glum I actually felt inside. How am I meant to tell her about Arjun when she had just given her heart to him?

"Yeah." She said. "I can't believe that out of all the girls he could've been with back in our district, he chooses me!" Vee gave me this brimming smile, which made my heart sink.

We then find ourselves sitting in this silence filled with our thoughts. It's not one of those awkward silences that you get sometimes when you try frantically to think of some conversation to ignite, but one of those silences that are set aside to reevaluate the events that had occurred. In my case, I was considering whether or not to tell Vee of what I saw that morning. I could tell her, and she would get hurt, upset and completely regret everything that had just happened, or I could just let it be and see how it plays out with Arjun possibly leaving his mistress behind and being faithful to Vee and Vee only; only I would have to spy on him to make sure he's not still two timing.

Vee looked at me with a warm smile – not like the crazy happy smile from before – and placed a hand over my own. "Jasmine. I want you to know, that you're a friend that I would treasure forever." I smiled at this, placing my other free hand over hers.

"Thanks Vee." I replied. "I feel the exact same way for you." And it's this time that I give her that brimming smile, because right now I had I had just had a burst of sudden happiness from Vee's comment. The feeling of being liked by others. The feeling of acceptance.

Back at home I was nothing special. Sure I had friends but that was normal. I had a family who loved me, and I had a small dingy that I would attend to everyday without fail. There was no special connection for me from anyone except for Danny and Sera, and when a person puts you together with people they've grown attached to for their whole lives, it makes you feel special.

Vee flicked her black hair around and tended to it for a little bit. She was obviously distracted by little things, but I knew that she had something to ask me. So, I gave her this glance that I feel I only give to Sera; the whole 'it's alright to ask me' glance. This must've worked because Vee asked, "The other day, I was asking you how you and Danny got together before we were cut off by the cannon. You mind telling me?"

_This again,_ I laugh in my head. Everyone in the district knows this story. It's nothing bad I can assure, but the thought of it is so nostalgic. "Well, I mentioned to Caesar Flickerman that I was Danny's fishing partner for five years. It was _all _a lie!" I laughed. "You see, in school because I was born in April, because of standards and stuff I was able to begin school in Danny's year level despite being a year younger than him. Don't ask me how the standards work; I don't really get it either. Anyway, so we were in the same class in year seven and I had seen him several times around the district beforehand but he used to tease me and stuff in school. He used to call me a nerd because I was younger than everybody else was. Danny was in the popular circle of friends; hanging around all the richer sons in the district. I thought he was particularly snobby – well, something like what you thought Arjun was like back in the day."

"Sounds just like him."

"Sure does, huh? It gets better though." I chuckled. "In year eight, I was fortunate enough to be moved into another class and away from that circle of people. That year is when I met Sera – my best friend back in the district. We were in the same class and we hit it off pretty much straight away. She's the one that gave Danny and me the necklaces. Anyway, so after school one day Danny approaches me right? And I'm thinking 'why on earth are you even talking to me?', but all he did was hold my face in his hands and kissed me briefly. He took a step back, looking at me with his bright green eyes I didn't think I had noticed beforehand, and he looked somewhat _mesmerized._"

"Of course, it was you." Vee laughed.

"Nah," I said. "I heard his friends laughing behind a bush nearby and I distinctly heard one of them say 'wow, dude you actually did it'. After Danny got back to his senses, he whipped his head around and said, 'yeah and now it's my turn to dare you.' I was so shocked and angry, so much so I kicked him in the shins before storming off, leaving him squirming around on the floor."

"I don't get it. So his friend dares him to kiss you and you guys are suddenly together?" Vee said, giving me a really puzzled face.

"Haha," I laughed. "If only it was that easy. So Danny came to apologize to me the day after for using me as a part of the dares. I didn't believe his forgiveness though; it could've been another dare for all I knew. But he must've liked my lips because he kept stealing more kisses from me for the whole year. He would make up excuses to kiss me. If I wanted him to pass an apple at the cafeteria for example, he would ask me for a kiss in return. Obviously I tried to avoid it at first but I started to fall for him. Towards the end of the year, stupid things like passing an apple I would just do it to both get an apple and a kiss from him. Danny must've realized that I liked him later because instead of asking for a kiss one day, he asked for me to be his girlfriend."

"Sounds like Danny. He looks like the teasing type." Vee laughed, covering her mouth with her hand. She leant over and plucked one of the green apples from my hiking bag and started to munch away at it. She waved her hand for me to continue with my story.

Smiling, I plucked an apple for myself and got comfortable. "His friends found out after around four months though. But, instead of ditching me for friends like I thought he would've, he dragged me into his group and we became a really famous couple. His friend who dared him to kiss me in the first place thinks he's a wingman now." I leant backwards, supporting myself with one hand and holding the apple in the other. "We've been together ever since."

I sighed, remembering all the times Danny and I were together. We hid our relationship at the start but after his friends found out we were just like 'stuff it' and we were open about our relationship after that. Vee rocked herself on the spot, imagining my story in her head. After she stopped, she stood up. "I want to go see Arjun. Your story makes me want to run up to him and kiss him now." She chuckled and left the tent. I stood up and followed out after her.

Pulling back the tent door, Danny was standing there, looking smug. "Liked my kisses did you?" He laughed. I pulled a frown and hit his arm.

"Were you eavesdropping?"

"Sure was." He said teasingly.

"How much of it did you hear?"

"Enough to know that you _liked _my kisses, despite complaining all the time beforehand." He chuckled.

"I hate you."

"You love me."

"No I don't. I hate you."

"Fine. Tell me that you hate me again."

"I hate-" I began before Danny pulled me into a kiss, enveloping his arms around my back. I kissed back, forgetting how much I missed his kisses. "Damn you, Danny Perr." I spat. "I hate how corny you can be." I paused for a bit. "I hate myself more for liking it."

Danny just laughed and embraced me. "Just to have you know, I purposefully loitered around those green apples you love so much during lunchtimes." He pulled my apple out of my hand and he took a bite out of it. "I shouldn't have let you get to the apple tree in the clearing until you gave me a thousand kisses."

I nuzzled against his nose and gave him a light peck. "That's one." I looked up to his eyes. "You have to earn the other nine hundred and ninety nine." I teased, running off.

Danny chased after me, as we frolicked in the clearing, pulling daisies out of the ground and throwing them at each other, only to be carried off by the light breeze. The reason why the rest of the district knows of our relationship and loves us because we were always so happy-go-lucky, and so competitive towards each other unlike other couples.

I wondered what the Capitol thought of us. Was there a special exception to cute couples and they would allow for some sort of couples showdown? If that were the case, Danny and I would win because Jewel and Ketch wouldn't really be counted as a couple. I wondered what my father thought of all this. My dad who disapproved of our relationship to be broadcasting it all over Panem.

We saw no sign of Ketch and Jewel returning that night and being them, they'd be fine so we didn't even bother trying to find them. No faces were in the sky tonight, and with twelve people left in the competition, the Gamemakers must be thinking that we're knocking off people really slowly. I was surprised they didn't pull some sort of surprise on us yet. It's been way too quiet. We haven't bumped into any of the other tributes in ages, except for that District 9 girl from today. Maybe the Gamemakers thought it was interesting to watch the whole lovey-dovey thing play out.

We took turns in taking watch that night, with Danny and me taking the early shift. It was much warmer than the last time we took watch, thankfully. "Who's left?" He asked, trying to count the number of tributes left on his fingers. "There are ten of them left apart from us."

I counted along with him. "Ketch and Jewel. Vee and Arjun. The two from 3. The girl from district 9? That's… seven." I have really bad memory.

"Three more…" Danny muttered, thinking really hard. "Nah, I can't really recall them either. Oh well, if they didn't stand out that much then they shouldn't be that hard to beat, right?"

There he goes being all optimistic just like he is. He's such a bright light compared to me. After the obvious change in weather patterns to the really warm summer air we felt on the first day – which confirmed my suspicions of the repetitive seasonal changes – Danny and I swapped with Vee and Arjun for a good night's rest.

By morning Vee seemed really sleepy so I told her to get back into bed and rest for as long as she wanted. She told me to wake her up in a couple of hours, and I agreed although I didn't think that I would wake her up unless a tribute came running. Danny was still sleeping, so it was just me and Arjun outside. I haven't talked to him _ever, _so I tried to summon up some random conversation with him. Walking over, I called his name. He turned around, watching my intentions. Giving him a smile, I ushered for him to sit down with me and talk. Arjun obliged after seeing that I wasn't of any harm. "How are you finding the arena?" I asked him.

"Okay." Arjun mumbled.

"Do you miss home?"

"Who wouldn't?" Great, this guy is giving me short answers and is not helping in any way to get a good conversation going.

"Um…" I started, thinking of something that would jumpstart him. "So you like Vee, huh?"

"Yeah…" His voice trailed off, staring off into the distance. I tried to trace his line of sight, towards the west. I saw a shadow sweep past as Arjun got up. "I've… got to go. Hunting." He said, as he began his steady walk towards the shadow. If I had so much of an inkling as to who the shadow belonged to, my best bet would be that it's that girl from yesterday. And, he's headed to her right now.

I allowed Arjun to disappear from sight before I moved from my spot. I really wanted to find out what he was doing, what his ambitions were; especially in a situation where you're amongst the final twelve and all that you care about is trying to keep up a steady relationship with two girls. I roused Danny from his sleep to ask of him to look after Vee while I was gone, and without hesitation he jumped up and made himself comfortable on top of the Cornucopia.

With that all set, I grabbed my sheath of knives and stuffed them into my vest pockets, slung my quiver of arrows over my shoulder and picked out a trident from one of the nearby logs that we had stashed it away in on the first day. I also slung the binoculars around my body and clipped a small skin of water onto it. I then hurried off after him in the general direction in which he had left in.

Trees engulfed me as the sun beat down, lighting up the whole arena so beautifully. With this amount of light, there was almost no place to hide. The trees that surrounded this side of the arena were almost impossible to climb unless you had something to levy you upwards. I paced around, trying to make little sounds as possible so I could try detecting Arjun's voice, boots, _anything_. I could see the mountain that Danny had mentioned in the distance, towering above everything. There was even thicker foliage up there from what I could see, so it was possible that Arjun headed in that direction. So, following my instincts, I headed in that direction.

Maybe after an hour of aimless trekking, I could hear Arjun's voice in the distance. It was unmistakable as I had just heard it this morning. I walked up towards the voice as close as I would dare, and hid behind a bush to listen in. "Is this alright?" A soft and calm voice spoke. It I fixed the binoculars in front of my eyes to see what was happening. They were sitting next to each other, hand in hand. "Won't the other Careers get angry with you?"

"If they don't find out, then we're fine, Lakey." Arjun reassured in a whisper.

"Alright then." Lakey responded, pulling Arjun into a kiss. I sat there watching them – as weird as it sounds, it was like watching a really corny romance movie and someone had looped the kissing scene. I don't know how much time passed while watching them, but when they stopped, Lakey pushed Arjun back slightly. "You should get back to your group. Bring back these too." She passed over this weaved netting which presented an array of dead animals. "You told her you were hunting after all."

By _her, _she probably meant me. "Where do you want to meet next time?" Arjun asked, his hand holding the net and the other caressing her face. She smiled.

"Tonight? When they're asleep?" She paused. "I think I'll travel down towards the stream again. Brings back memories." Lakey winked at him and he chuckled.

"You sure you'll be fine?" He asked her. Oh there he goes, being all romantic. "Remember, love. I'll always be with you." _Love? _Lakey seemed to be a sucker for the corny moments as she sort of melted on the spot before recomposing herself. "Right here." He patted to the area her heart generally should be and stood up, swinging the net over his shoulder.

Lakey stood up too and gave him one last hug. "You should go now. From what you've been saying, Jasmine seems to be onto you." Her eyes sort of shot in my direction as I nestled into my spot, hoping that I was concealed enough for them not to notice me. I wasn't great at the camouflaging station, after all. Thankfully, I don't think they had noticed me because her eyes shot around the surrounding area too. "I'll see you tonight." She smiled.

"Tonight." He winked. "I'll be looking forward to it." With that, he started hiking back in the direction of the Cornucopia, with Lakey watching him leave. She didn't move until he was somewhat out of sight, and headed around in the opposite direction. I remained in my position until both of them disappeared, meshing into the wilderness.

I wondered whether Vee would be awake yet and whether she was chatting with Danny. I wondered what about. I trust Danny not to cheat on me, unlike Arjun, but I was just genuinely curious what they would be talking about. Home? Friends? Family? All of them rolled into one?

Moving from my spot, I shuffled around a bit and wiped my sweaty palms on my cargo pants before stumbling back towards the Cornucopia. Then, it hit me like a smack on the face. I'm supposed to be at the Cornucopia, not spying on Arjun. The boy already had several minutes lead time on me, and I should get back before him. He probably knew the woods better than I did too because of his constant sneaking around. Right. Taking a few deep breaths, I picked up my pace, hoping to avoid his tracks but somehow manage to wander my way back before him.

After managing my way onto a path, I found my route to the Cornucopia simpler than I thought. I could see the clearing right up ahead and the Cornucopia bouncing off the sun's rays. Vee had woken up and was walking about when Arjun emerged into the clearing only fifty meters to my right. Damn! I decided to hide for a little bit. It would've been too much of a coincidence to make it back at the same time. Vee ran up to Arjun and hugged him as he gave her a light hearted peck on the lips before walking up to Danny.

"Where's Jasmine?" He asked.

"She went to the stream to collect some water." Danny lied smoothly. Great lie, but now I have to find some water. Thanks for the inconvenience Danny.

"Here's some fresh game." Arjun held up the netting and gave it to Danny to inspect. Danny looked at it for two seconds, not really caring, and threw it into the mouth of the Cornucopia. "Hey!" Arjun almost yelled.

Danny shrugged. "Hot day. It'll do better in a darker, cooler place. It won't go off as fast."

Arjun calmed down and paced around, obviously aggravated about something. He was muttering something under his breath, not caring about the presence of his so-called girlfriend, and my boyfriend. Then I realized what Danny had said. _She went to the stream to collect water. I think I'll travel down towards the stream again. Like _Lakey had said earlier. Now I get it. Arjun is worried that his other girlfriend is going to be slaughtered by me. I'm physically stronger than her and my aim is probably superior to hers as well. She would stand no chance against me, that Lakey. I smirked in triumph. However, I'm not at the stream and I'm just squatting just outside the clearing eavesdropping again. I'm doing an awful lot of eavesdropping aren't I?

I got comfortable next to a tree and played around with my knives and my trident before I deemed it was safe to come out from hiding. Walking up towards the tent, Arjun was eyeing me. I shot him a glare. "What are you looking at?" I growled.

"I thought you were supposed to be getting water from the stream."

"Got lost." I snarled, disgusted by him. I saw his shoulders relax a bit.

"Oh."

That night, there were once again no faces in the sky. We're that interesting aren't we? Danny and I lay in the tent, with him dropping off almost immediately. Vee and Arjun were supposed to be on patrol for the first shift, and when the temperature dropped we would swap roles. I was curious as to how Arjun would get away from Vee, seeing as they were patrolling together, and supposed to be sleeping together. If she suddenly woke up in the middle of the night and he wasn't by her side, wouldn't it be a bit strange?

Sleep failed to overwhelm me so I found myself once again eavesdropping on the couple outside. "Sweetheart, I'm going to patrol around in the forest. I'll be back soon, okay?" So that's his ticket out.

There was a long pause before I heard a soft whisper. "Be careful." Then there was some shuffling, a clang of metal – which I presumed to be his trek down from the top of the Cornucopia – and the faint clump of boots crunching on the thousand leaves scattered across the floor.

My eyes were focused in the direction of the stream, wanting somehow to get out of here and once again spying on him. I really had no plan; I was more of a go-with-the-flow sort of person, so I got Danny to wake up. Yes, I'm such a considerate girlfriend. "Danny." I called to him in a whisper.

"Mmm?" He mumbled, his eyes fighting to open.

"Danny, listen to me." I said sternly. His eyes forced its way open.

"Yeaah?" He slurred. He always sounded like this in the morning.

"When it's your turn to patrol, insist to Vee that you guys do a bit of a night scout. Pack the things. Go to the stream. I'll meet you there." I kissed him on the forehead, hoping that he got every word that I had said processing in his head.

"Okay." He mumbled, slipping back into his slumber. I rolled my eyes and laughed silently. I pulled my hike pack up into position and piled my things into it. After I finished with the essentials, I got strapped the pack to myself and clasped at my trident. I slipped out of the tent, looking back at Vee. She gazed at me curiously before asking me what I was doing with her hand signals.

"When it's Danny's turn to patrol, help him pack the things and head to the stream. I'll meet you there." I relayed the instructions to Vee, as she nodded confusingly but didn't question my ideals.

It was easy to find the stream. It was directly east from here and you just couldn't miss it. Plus, I had walked down this direction beforehand so I wasn't extremely unfamiliar with the environment, only just a bit lost because of the dark. Night animals were scurrying about, but I ignored them. Nothing bad was in these forests unless they were something created by the Gamemakers – which I haven't bumped into any of those yet – muttations, they were called.

I arrived at the stream to hear the slow gushing of water and Lakey's soft pacing. Arjun had just arrived as well, as I concealed myself behind a bush. It was getting colder but luckily the thermals were warm against my skin. They were sitting on a rock this time, in each other's arms. "I don't get why you don't just let me kill all of them in their sleep." Arjun muttered.

"You said Ketch and Jewel haven't been around for two days. If they find out, then they're obviously going to kill you without hesitation." Lakey reasoned. "You have to be smart about this. Like, with Vee, make sure she's so much in love with you that she feels safe around you. Then, when the time comes I'll kill her."

"Won't that make Ketch and Jewel just come after you?" He whispered.

"There's only going to be one winner. You've got a better chance of being that winner with Ketch and Jewel by your side." Oh right, I keep forgetting I'm in the games because I never bump into any other tributes.

"They hate me."

"Why?"

"Ketch called me useless." _So has Danny. So have I. So has anyone who's seen you step back and twiddle your thumbs. _I thought.

Lakey gave a soft chuckle. "Anyway, I get to kill Vee. My way. I'm going to make her suffer because I have to share you with her."

Arjun raised an eyebrow. "It's part of the plan. But fine. Go ahead."

"When do you think would be good?" She asked.

"Tomorrow, maybe? The Gamemakers might pull something off soon, so do it while everything is still steady."

I despised them. Toying with girl's feelings? And then killing her later? Sure, this is the games but hey, that still isn't fair! I wish I could just march up to them right now…

"Tomorrow it is." She snickered. "At the clearing of the Cornucopia?"

"Right on. I'll get Danny and Jasmine to go hunting or something. Then when she dies I'll cry and say that the Gamemakers sent muttations while they were gone." I could see a smile form at the edge of his lips.

"Neat. Sounds like a plan." The Gamemakers surely are flicking the cameras between Lakey and Arjun and I concealed only meters away from them. Everybody who is watching must be sick of me just sitting around eavesdropping on them and not shedding any blood.

I could hear the pattern of Danny's steps before he made it to the stream, as I got out from behind the bush to meet up with them. They greeted me with a whisper before we made it to the stream and since we were loud, and the possibility that Lakey and Arjun would've been just as loud in an attempt to escape, Lakey stood there right out in front of us with Arjun head locked under her arm. She teased a knife in front of his face, him pulling this most fake-scared face I've ever seen. Vee was extremely worried because she tensed up beside me. "Come any closer and I'll cut your boyfriend's head off," Lakey traced the edge of the knife along his neck, her gaze fixed on Vee. "Stupid guy just pranced into my arms." _Yeah, quite literally. _I thought.

Vee gave a scream, shaking. She was utterly lost in what to do, and I honestly was a bit baffled as well. If we didn't do anything, would she really cut Arjun's throat? I don't think so. They're trying to save each other, not kill each other. Besides, Arjun was the worst actor ever. He didn't even look all that worried that he was trapped in another tribute's arms and ready to be slaughtered. Danny was concerned and focused on summing up a plan. His eyes went into this mode where you can't reach him until he made a certain decision. I put my arm to hold both Vee and Danny back, confusing them a little. I gave them a reassuring nod, as I stepped forward. "Kill him? Really?" I asked.

"Yes. I will do it." Lakey said unconvincingly.

"Okay, one less person for us to worry about then." I shrugged.

"Jasmine!" Vee screamed.

"Listen to your friend, Jasmine. Her boyfriend's about to die, yet you don't care? What would you do if Danny was in his place?" I shook my head, shaking off any imagination that would creep into my mind.

"Well, at least Danny wasn't two-timing." I stated. Vee looked at me.

"What…?" She stuttered. She wasn't dumb, she knew what I meant.

"I've seen you two. Creeping around and making out like animals." I said bluntly. "You planned to kill Vee too? How was it again…? Tell Danny and me to go hunting and kill her while she's just left in your care?" Lakey's smirk was wiped off from her face. She let go of Arjun as he composed him back out in front. Vee was on the verge of tears, but she was a strong person. She was fighting them back.

"Is it true Arjun?" She sobbed. I saw her reach into her vest.

"If you really loved me Vee, you would've give _it _to me already back at home." He replied hoarsely.

"But Arjun, I'm _seventeen!_" She protested.

"So? Lakey here is sixteen and we've done it. Several times actually." He yawned. I could see Vee so upset yet furious at the same time. From my angle, I could detect a glint of silver from her vest.

"I should've known this. Once a cheater, always a cheater." She screamed. "I thought you changed for me."

"Change I did. You were a challenge, and I was so ready to accept that challenge. But when you didn't put out, I realized I had just been wasting my time." He shrugged and Lakey came over to kiss Arjun full on the mouth. His hand lay on top of her ass. Vee gritted her teeth.

"No. You know what Arjun? You're a jerk, and _you _wasted _my _time." She then charged forward, unsheathing the knife from inside her vest. I ran after her, trying to serve as backup. It wouldn't be fair for Vee to try beat Arjun and Lakey at the same time.

Vee slashed away at Lakey, managing to slice off her long chocolate hair to her shoulders. "That was my hair, you bitch!" She screamed. Slashing back, Vee avoided Lakey's attack swiftly and threw the knife at her, only to barely miss. Lakey, with her long legs sprinted out of there, running north. Vee chased after her, only to realize that Lakey outmatched her speed and so she had to let her go.

At this time, I was preoccupied with Arjun who was just as useless as everyone had described him. His moves were so detectable, as if everything was flying in slow motion. He didn't even carry around a weapon which made it even easier for me with a trident and a stash of knives tucked away at my disposal. I dropped my trident, knowing I didn't even need it, and easily grabbed Arjun's arms and pushed him to his knees. The ground was full of rocks, so it must've hurt when his knees slammed onto them because he let out a wryly cry. By this time, Vee had returned from her failed pursuit of Lakey and was circling Arjun who struggled hopelessly in my arms.

Danny was standing back, yawning. He didn't even bother engaging in combat because he knew how much I hated it when more people than required interfered. "Please." Arjun said in a strained voice. "Vee, I love you. Don't kill me. I was just using Lakey."

"I don't know what to believe anymore Arjun." She said firmly, twirling the knife in her hand. "You're only saying these things because you kneel down in front of me hopelessly with no chance of getting out of this arena alive." She stopped in front of him.

"Please, Vee." He continued to plead. "Don't do this sweetheart."

"Psh." She scoffed. "I don't want to see your face. But, even I have a heart. And I don't have the heart to kill you." She threw her knife into the ground as I felt Arjun ease up in my arms. "Oh, by the way. Let's break up, Arjun." With that, she began walking off into Danny's direction. I didn't know what Vee wanted me to do. Release him? Keep him like this? "Jasmine." She called.

"Yes?" I replied.

"Do the honors please."

I felt Arjun tense back up in my arms as I smirked. "You and I, Arjun." I inhaled deeply. "We're going to have a fun time."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

**Juliae Casher's (head gamemaker's) POV**

_Finally an outcome. _I thought, sighing as I watched the tributes from two, four and the girl from nine battle it out at the stream. I held off the Gamemakers to make sure we didn't do anything to interfere with the scenario that had been playing out for two days now. It was a big hit at the Capitol and I wanted to see how it would play out for myself. I walked up towards the towering screen in front of me, projecting the faces of all twelve remaining tributes in the games.

_"Do the honors please." _The girl from two – Vee, muttered before she meshed into the forest.

The girl from four looked down despicably at Arjun, who was now known as the two-timer in the Capitol, and shifted her hands around so that her right hand grasped both of his and the other wandered around in her vest, selecting a long, serrated knife. _"You and I Arjun," _she said, taking in a deep breath. _"We're going to have a fun time."_

"Zoom in on Camera #765. Prepare the cannon." I boomed, filling every corner of the room with my voice. A flurry of keyboards began tapping away as the picture up on the live screen zoomed into Jasmine's face. "Flash Danny's face from Camera #794. Side angle." Danny's face appeared on the live screen to show his monotone expression for about four seconds before it went back to Jasmine.

Jasmine had now pinned Arjun to the ground, pulled at his hair and began cutting it off. Arjun was screaming in pain, but Jasmine didn't make so much of an expression to show her sympathy. _"I hate guys like you." _She said, clearly angry for what he had done to Vee._ "I hope every bit of pain I inflict on you will inspire you to be a more caring boyfriend in your next life."_

Jasmine then cut his limbs up into pieces before stabbing him in the heart with her knife. It was a slow death in the hands of a girl, and by now Danny had wandered away into the forest; probably to throw up or something. "Sound the cannon." I demanded as one of the operators pressed a button that let off a loud boom in the arena and across Panem. "Good job guys." I praised my crew that sat around me at their operating tables. "The wait was worth it."

Everyone in the room gave a momentary cheer before going back to work. I examined the room which was filled with Gamemakers – there were around fifty of them aside from myself, most busily pointing around at the screens, trying to figure out who to feature next on the screen.

Most of the tributes were just wandering around now, so it was time to showcase who was still alive and where they were in the arena. "Follow each group of tributes for ten seconds each." I said, raising my hand up to my chin, leaning against it. This was the boring part. Waiting for something to spark maybe, for them to push themselves together and start sparring. It was probably never going to happen anytime soon though, the groups were so _separated._

"Rebecca, have you got those mutts sorted?" I asked the operator who was sitting near me. She was the mutts design specialist; she had created all sorts of different creatures and was part of the team who created the tracker jackers back in the day. Rebecca nodded, allowing a hologram of a cute polar bear cub to pop up. "Good. We shall send them out at precisely noon tomorrow."

I snickered to myself. That Jasmine girl – I've got to say I like her. She's practically everything a Gamemaker could ask for – strong, ruthless, relentless, crowd pleaser and to top it all off, she seems to attract a lot of drama that is making the Capitol fans go wild. She also got Seneca Crane to post pone his head Gamemaker position, allowing me the opportunity to prove to President Snow that I was fit for the job and that I was willing to have this position for as long as I deserve. _It would be a shame if she died from the mutts tomorrow_. I sighed.

A pitter patter of fast, soft footsteps then bounced into the room, running down the stairs to me. It was a woman with orange hair tied in a large messy circle around her head, in a uniform from another department. "Juliae!" She called in a very alarming voice. "Juliae, Juliae!"

I turned around to her, pretty annoyed. Her voice was screechy, and her voice with my name… no, it just didn't fit. My name could only be called by females of a velvet voice; not like those jabberjays screaming back mimics from their rounds in the districts. "What." I growled.

"President Snow summons you in his office this instant." Her voice continued screeching. I rolled my eyes and relayed simple instructions to my assistant Jacqui, who always filled in for me and served second hand opinions.

With that out of the way, I maneuvered my way through the maze like corridors in the building, making my way up to President Snow's office. He was also so calm sounding, yet I could feel the hostility in the way his eyes would pierce into mine. His office always smelt like blood for some reason, but the white roses he kept in the centre of his desk perforated the room, mixing the smells together to create this horrible odor. Taking one last fresh breath outside his office, I knocked on his door before being given permission to go inside.

"Ah, Juliae Casher." President Snow said, gesturing me to have a seat on the opposite end of his desk. "As you may have noticed, the games have been going a bit slow lately. One death in three days, am I not correct?"

I nodded slowly, knowing that I had disappointed him. "With all due respect sir, the Capitol enjoyed the drama between Districts 2 and 4. The ratings have increased tremendously." He raised an eyebrow at me and swirled some red around in his wine glass. "Rebecca has readied the mutts for the next phase of pushing the tributes together. They will be sent out at noon tomorrow, sir." I tried to protest. I'm here to convince Snow that I was a worthy head Gamemaker to replace Seneca Crane, not crash and burn at the start of my bright future ahead of me in the best job you could ever get in the Capitol.

"Well, thing is Juliae." Snow started, his eyes watching his red wine swirl around. "Even as Head Gamemaker, you have not heard of the little, _trouble, _you could say, we've been having?"

I didn't get where he was coming from. If there was trouble, I'd be the first to know. It wouldn't get to him unless I told it to him or got someone else to tell him. "I'm sure you have been mistaken sir. If there was trouble, I would've known about it already." I said trying to make sure I sounded confident. I hope there wasn't any doubt to my voice. I had to be the person who knew what was going on.

"Well one of your operators has informed me that there has been a _hacker._" He lowered the glass and pierced his cold, dark eyes into mine.

"A hacker?" I asked.

"Precisely."

"When did they…?" My voice trailed off, wondering how on earth someone could've hacked into the advanced technology of the Capitol.

"Nine days ago. The countdown is due for tomorrow at noon. Ah, what a coincidence! Isn't that the time you were planning to send out your mutts? How a problem presents itself!" President Snow gave this fake sigh as his turned around in his office chair. He got up from it and revealed his black and white suit which was accompanied with a simple white rose clip hanging from his pocket.

I gritted my teeth together. Nine days ago… that's when the tributes were having their second training session… "Who do you suppose the hacker is?"

"You tell me. You're the head Gamemaker." He walked up and looked down towards me to make himself look more superior. "Are you not?" He questioned with a smirk on his face.

I got up from my chair and excused myself with a bow. "Yes sir." I muttered before leaving.

"WHO IS IT? WHO TOLD PRESIDENT SNOW?" I bellowed. Everyone was stunned, looking at me. The screen was currently showing the clearing on the slope of the mountain to the west, where the two from District 3 were currently hiding out. "I said, _who is it?_" I growled, staring at everyone in the room. I was infuriated; whoever had informed Snow was jeopardizing my career!

A man in his mid twenties slowly raised his hand and stood up. He had messy black bed hair that was different every day. Go figure, he's a lazy chap. "It was me, sir." He murmured.

"Why? Why tell Snow before telling me?" I demanded.

"Crane told me to."

_Seneca Crane? I thought he was in hospital!_ "That bastard wants to claim his position again doesn't he?" I slammed my fist into the bench next to me, making everything and everyone around it jump a little bit.

"He told me that you were not fitting of the role, sir. It's not my fault. I was going to tell you but he told me that he would promote me to assistant next year if he were Head Gamemaker." He hung his head down low, obviously guilty of his crime.

I eased up a little bit and held my head high. "Why has everybody stopped working?" I screamed shooting looks all around the room. All the other Gamemakers quickly went back to work, obviously scared of me. Looking back at the man, I walked up to him. "You. Come with me." I demanded before walking off into my office.

My office was large with a single large television screen hanging on the wall opposite of my desk. It was playing the live streaming of the games and on the side was showing the Gamemaker room, so I would always be able to see whether they were slacking off while I wasn't around. "Sit." I pointed to the seat opposite my desk and flopped into my large comfy office chair. He promptly sat down and just stared at me, unable to speak. "Your name?" I asked.

"Chapman." He exclaimed. I saw that he was rubbing his hands together below the desk, palms sweaty from nervousness.

"Well, Chapman. If you wanted promotions you should've delivered some sort of result. You haven't made so much of a lasting impression on me. Geez, I didn't even know your name." I paused. Chapman braced himself for the worst. "I would fire you… but you're the only one that actually knows about the hacking. When did you find out about it?"

"Just this morning, sir."

"When were you planning on telling me about it?"

"Crane assured me that the President would take care of that." He mumbled.

"Do you know what is programmed to occur because of the hacking?" I asked. People hack for a reason; there must be some sort of result that would come out of it.

"I haven't tried sir." He replied honestly. I spun around on my chair, thinking. For what purpose is this hacking for? Who did it? Why? _How?_

"Alright." I said, standing up. "Chapman, if it's a promotion you want, I've got one for you."

Chapman's eyes began to glimmer, but then he hesitated. "There's a catch to this isn't there?" He asked, with an uncertainty to his voice.

"Of course there is." I said, heading towards the door. "I want you and half the programs team to find out what the hack is programmed for."

"Half the programs team?" He screeched. "Sir, that's a good fifteen people! I'm sure a team of five is more than enoug-"

"With you as their leader, an army of people still wouldn't be enough." I said blatantly. Chapman was startled with how easily I looked down on his abilities. "Hurry up or else I'll reconsider your position as leader."

"What do you mean _leader?_" Isn't he just full of questions? I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"You wanted a promotion. So, I _promote _you to leader for this _mission, _you could call it." I stood there, looking at his confused expression. "You know what? If you don't get some work going in the next twenty seconds, I will demote you from leader and your position on the programs team. I know; you can be our coffee server."

Chapman quickly excused himself and ran back into the operating room, as I could see him gather up fifteen people who reluctantly joined him to find the hacker's purpose. I smirked at the sight from my office and grabbed a chilled ice coffee from my mini bar. As long as I provided entertainment and maintained control over the Gamemakers, this job provided me with the best things you could ever ask for in life.

An hour later, Chapman ran up to me gesturing me to come examine his findings. "You've found the problem?" I asked. He shook his head glumly.

"The hacker must've been very skilled. None of us could manage to find out what the hack was programmed to do." Furious, I was ready to open my mouth announcing his sack. Chapman then held up his hands defensively. "Please, sir. On the contrary, we have found something that may be of interest to you."

"This better not be a waste of my time." I muttered, stumbling over to the computer that projected a video that was currently paused. Chapman ushered the operator to play the video as the picture of a small boy with styled brown hair at the edible plants and animals' station tapping away at the keys as a window popped up that wasn't the trivia game we put on there. Jasmine was standing close to him, watching him before walking off. She must've been waiting for it before she realized he didn't seem like he was going to get off of it anytime soon.

I looked at the screen closer. "Zoom into the screen, will you please Ananya." I ordered the woman who was operating the computer. She was especially good at programming controlled disasters in the games such as natural disasters and was responsible for the organization of the flood in the 70th Hunger Games. She was also one of the most experienced Gamemakers in the room. Chapman sort of glared at me, knowing that I purposefully addressed people by their names to show to him that everyone was so much harder working than he was.

Ananya zoomed into the large television like screen and I could see that the window that had popped up had coding written all over it. There were a variety of symbols that I couldn't understand and neither could Ananya – who was supposedly meant to be an expert in this field. "Can you somewhat decipher what's happening, Ananya?" I asked, glaring at the screen trying to make sense of it all.

"Well… he's definitely the hacker." She confirmed. "I searched up this boy, and his father was the one who designed all the high-tech computers that gets bought by the Capitol. The ones we're using now are made by his father and a few others."

"He's District 3, isn't he?" I asked stupidly. Of course he is. Who else can it be? No other district even has access to such high tech electronic systems.

"Correct. His name's Ryan. You see this?" Ananya held up her cell phone. "When I was doing my researching, I found that Ryan had created this brand of phones three years ago when he was only ten. His father advertised the range of cell phones he had created, tweaked it to Capitol standards and it's now the largest phone company here."

I stared in awe at the skinny, hungry boy on television. That kid, he's amazing. To be able to hack into a system such as ours; even if they were designed by his father the edible plants and animals program was not meant to be able to be minimized unless a correct password was inputted. "Do you think you can find out what he programmed the hack to do?" I asked again. I've asked this same question quite a few times already and I was feeling rather annoyed that no one was able to fulfill my request.

"I may be able to, sir." A man put his hand up, stepping forward. Thank god, finally there's someone that's not useless around here. I looked at him and recognized him straight away. He was the operations specialist, as he always made sure that all our tweaks to the arena would work.

"Ah, Will." Now I'm honestly mocking Chapman. "How long would it take?"

"I've looked at it and it's a really complicated hack. Even if I started now, I might be fighting against the time the hack is executed." He sighed. "But, there is the possibility that I will be able to find out what it is and terminate it before it gets out of hand."

I considered this before I gave him the OK, but I was really wondering whether that'd be a waste of time or not. This boy might've conjured up something that would spark more drama and more drama equals more fans. How much could've he had done in coding though?

"Juliae? Should I start?" Will asked again.

"No. Change of plan." I concluded. "I want the hack to go through. It might be that element of surprise we need this year."

"But Juliae! What if he programmed for the barrier to be shut down? Ryan _has_ been hiding out really close to the barrier after all." A woman named Uvini asked. Uvini was a general programmer, but she was in charge of the security of the arena.

"Then I want you to make sure that the barrier is secure. Override anything he might've come up with." I thought for a little bit. "Ramp the barrier's shock system up too."

"Rodger that." Uvini ran off to make the adjustments.

"Rebecca darls," I called out to her from across the room. Although she was on the programs team, she was still busy making the mutts so she wasn't included in the hacker pursuit. "Post pone the release of the mutts. I have another plan in mind."

**Jasmine's POV**

Dusk had fallen once again and the autumn leaves that surrounded the arena on the sixth day were just as bright and colorful as the second. Ketch and Jewel finally made a reappearance and when they asked about Arjun's disappearance, Danny filled them in on what had happened while they were gone. They didn't really seem to care, and as if in response to that, Jewel made her way to me with a smile before whispering in my ear, "You show those guys whose boss." She patted me on the back twice before walking off to set her tent up.

That night the anthem blared and Arjun's face lit up the night sky. I could just imagine Vee now, cooped up in her tent alone. I wondered how she felt about all of it. She couldn't have liked me killing him despite asking me to, right? She hadn't said a word to anyone since returning back to the Cornucopia apart from the common things such as, "Do you want me to patrol tonight?" or "How do you want me to ration the bread?" Vee would just give me grim smiles and slowly move around the campsite, kicking at stones or staring blankly into the sky.

Danny didn't say anything to me all night as I was really worried for Vee. I didn't feel guilty for Arjun nor did I care about what people thought about me in the way I killed him but something about him haunted me that night as I kept waking up in the middle of the night screaming. I needed sleep and I was sleepy, but the nightmares didn't fail to show me how much pain Arjun was going through when I was killing him.

The next morning I tried to talk to Vee again with success. She was much brighter and she had that bubbly feel about her again. I tried to avoid the Arjun topic, but she brought it up instead. "You're having nightmares about him aren't you Jas?" She muttered sympathetically.

"No I'm not." I lied.

"Don't lie to me. You were screaming last night."

"Was it that loud?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"Damn…"

"I'm sorry." She mumbled. I looked up to her and shook my head.

"The nightmares were bound to come anyway." Vee smiled at me as I hugged her. I looked outside the Cornucopia – which we had our breakfast in – where the snow was falling down and marked the winter day. It was such a beautiful sight.

After breakfast was over and we packed up all of our things, Ketch suggested that we headed over to the mountain. He said that he and Jewel had scoured south of the Cornucopia and towards the mountain but they didn't find anyone. They were really close apparently but that was when they ran out of food and needed to come back for restocking.

"Let's get going." Ketch called.

We all cut through the forest, and towards the direction of the mountain. We had passed the spot where I was eavesdropping on Arjun and Lakey which only made me question: where _was _Lakey? Last we had seen her she was fleeing from the battle at the stream, where she didn't help her poor little Arjun in any way. There's five of us and one of her, so what are the chances that she'll be alive the next time we run into her?

The steady incline up the mountain was tiring having to trudge through the snow with the amount of supplies we had in our bags. Danny and I had secretly stashed a whole week's worth of food and since I had suggested so, Vee also packed enough for herself without Ketch or Jewel's knowledge. We weren't allowed to complain because if we did they would find out about it which may pit Ketch and Jewel against the three of us. Usually I would say, 'bring it on' but Shanty's plan didn't involve us having a civil war. The plan had gone off track with Arjun though and there were several more aspects of it that I don't quite remember despite the amount of reminding she and Danny had given me.

When we got to the clearing on the top of the Cornucopia, there were no tributes in sight. Although, there were footprints that weren't ours that led off into the west and made no effort in trying to cover them up. "More idiots!" Ketch screamed happily.

I rolled my eyes and threw a stick into the ground. "Are you freaking serious Ketch?" I snorted. "I would've thought that by now you would've figured out what's a trap and what's not a trap."

"You shut up Four." He growled back, throwing his pack to the ground. Like Danny had mentioned a few days ago, there was in fact a small running fountain n the middle of the clearing. I could tell it was fresh water just by smelling it – it had a sweet smell and had the essence of the beachside coconuts that you could find in District 4.

We hung around in the clearing for a little while, resting up and getting a bite to eat. I wondered how hard it was for the other tributes to find food to eat because we seemed to have all the food to ourselves. They could've found our hiding spots and already began sneaking off with our extra stashes of supplies, but if they were they were doing a great job at it because none of us have realized.

There were five of us left. Who was going to end up going next? Ketch and Jewel probably both have the upper hand physically since they were both trained for these games. I was supposed to be really good too and 'Career' like, but frankly Danny is displaying much more intelligence than I have been in here. All I've done so far is throw knives around, kill the girl from District 8, go on nostalgic flashback journeys with Vee, stalk Arjun and Lakey and then kill Arjun. Vee and Danny were both equally smart – Vee figured out how to hide the supplies and the craziness of the arena, and Danny cooked the food and figured out the map of the arena. Pft, apart from my excellent aim, the nine years of training was pretty pointless.

Danny walked over and made himself comfortable by sitting on his hiking pack next to me. "Want to set up the tent?" He asked, holding onto my ice cold hands trying to rub them together with his.

"Ketch will kill us." I muttered. "He'll probably want to leave soon."

"Hm, true." He agreed, and focused on trying to warm up my hands.

"Wish they gave us extra clothing at the Cornucopia." I laughed.

"They gave us socks?"

"They don't help." I pouted.

"Put it on your hands." Danny suggested.

"I can't hold my knives with my hands like that!" I laughed imagining myself try to throw a knife with no fingers available.

Danny laughed along and shrugged. "How are your feet going?"

"It's funny, I remember trying to bear with the pain from the boots rubbing against the heels for the first few days of the games, but it doesn't hurt anymore. Maybe because it's worn in now?"

Danny shook his head and laughed. I frowned at him. "When you were sleeping you were tossing and turning around and complaining." I raised an eyebrow. I complain in my sleep? "So I rubbed some of the cream onto it. I tried it on mine too."

"That _useless _cream? The one that had no label?" I asked, surprised.

"Yeah. Seems to be a heel healer or something."

"No wonder!" I laughed. "I wonder whether it would heal other things…"

"Well I've got some of it with me so we can try it out later."

"Hopefully we won't have to." I chuckled. We snuggled up together for warmth, Danny enveloping me in his arms. I suddenly remembered something. "Hey, Danny!" I said, pushing him off of me. "What was the rest of the plan?" Danny hushed me, giving glances around to Ketch and Jewel. "Oh, sorry. What was the rest of the plan?" I asked again in a whisper.

"I told you to remember Jasmine…" I chuckled guiltily. "Well apart from the fact that Shanty had told us not to go around killing our own teammates, we're pretty much on track. She just said that we should break off from the Careers when there are… I guess its six people now."

"Um, well if we all are still alive by the time then it's all us Careers plus a random. Nice."

"Well if Vee was on our side we could probably take on Ketch and Jewel… and get seriously injured… or we could be sneaky like poison their food or fill their tent up with snow while they're asleep."

"Why would we fill their tent up with snow when we could just walk in and kill them?" I frowned.

"Just suggestions, dear."

"You're sounding like Arjun again…"

Danny rolled his eyes and laughed. "What do you want me to call you then? Honeybuns? Sugar? Sweetcakes?"

"By my name? And what's with all the food related names?"

Danny shrugged and ran his fingers through his ashy bronze hair. "Ask the people who made them up."

I stared at the sky where the sun shone brightly, hanging up above us overhead. It provided a little bit of warmth to the cold environment around us but this winter was artificial so it wasn't particularly freezing cold unless there was no source of heat from somewhere.

"Let's get going." Ketch called. "No one's just going to suddenly walk up to us asking for us to kill them."

I rolled my eyes as I hoisted my hiking pack up onto my back and clipped myself in. It weighed 20kg at best – which was probably my limit. I seemed to have been eating more and more food in the arena than I do back at home, which I guess can be owed to the amount of food we actually have and the amount of walking we do. Ketch still suggested we follow the footsteps that had been left in the snow and to just be really cautious of any traps that could be set up. I agreed, hoping to finish off the other tributes as fast as possible so I could get my ass out of this arena and back at home.

A soft rumble began to crescendo while we were walking through the forest going down the mountain on the northern borders of the arena. I looked back to check back a couple of times beforehand but each time I did, I got more worried. Then, the anthem blared and we stopped to listen to what we assumed would be Claudius Templesmith announcing something like a feast, but all that lit up in the air was a huge digital clock. It read 11:58am, and the seconds were ticking away, increasing every minute to whatever was bugging me.

"Are you alright?" Danny asked, looking at me with concern.

"Yeah, just fine. The clock's… just seems so fishy." I replied with eyes fixated on the clock which had just turned 11:59am.

The rumbling had gotten louder as we reached the bottom of the mountain where the trees were more solid and sturdy. I looked backwards again, wanting to know what made the rumbling noises. Then, at exactly noon, I could hear the cawing of birds flying away in huge flocks and the squirrels were jumping from tree to tree past us. I looked backwards once again and too my horror I saw a large pile of snow steadily make its way towards us.

"AVALANCHE!" I screamed, urging Vee to climb one of the trees. "Climb! Climb!" My voice was urgent, and it had every right to be. I grabbed Vee's legs and hoisted her up onto a branch as I looked back to Danny to help him up.

"You go first!" He yelled to me, grabbing me and throwing me up. Vee caught me and helped me up onto the branch. I held my arm out to Danny who grabbed it and slung his arms around the branch for grip. "Keep climbing! We're only two and a half meters up!"

Vee and I bounded up the tree to around ten meters with Danny behind us as I saw Jewel on another tree close by easily climbing up it. Ketch wasn't having such ease with his heavy body pretty much _crashing _onto every branch.

The avalanche swept beneath us just as Ketch lost his footing, falling into the heap of snow. Jewel barely caught his hand and held onto it, trying to pull him up. It was no use though; she was probably half his weight and had nowhere near enough strength to be able to hold onto him. The snow was getting deeper and Ketch was getting more and more submerged into it. It was up to his chest when he gave a bleak smile to Jewel before letting her hand go, crashing down with a painful scream.

"_No!_" Jewel cried just before his cannon sounded.

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><p><strong>Phew! Okay I said this chapter wouldn't be out for a few weeks... but I seriously need to stop procrastinating! My friend Vy Vy (who is the real-life Vee) has started reading this too so I got really excited and kept writing more!<br>I need to focus on my homework! Grr. I _would _say the next one won't be for a few weeks but who knows I might just continue procrastinating and finish this... sigh...**


	9. Chapter 9

**Heeeellloooo thereeee. So it's been around three weeks since my last update, sorry for taking awhile. Mid years are in 2-3 weeks (dying) and I've been writing an original with a friend as well as trying to write a mini novella for another occasion with no luck in tying the ideas together.**

**I'm guessing my next update will either be in a week, or in a month. It's either going to be one or the other ahahaa. This is a fairly short chapter compared the others, but it gets my intention through. Hope you enjoy it!  
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><p><strong>Chapter Nine<br>**

The almighty Ketch, plummeting to death in an avalanche. Out of all the ways Danny and I had planned to sneakily finish him; poison his food, kill him in his sleep… the Gamemakers had beat us to it. I would've thought that knowing our plans they would've allowed for some sort of scenario to play up, but they had set up a natural disaster instead.

The sounding of yet another cannon made me flinch as we were all so caught up about how Ketch, the person I deemed the hardest to beat from the very start just died. Danny gave me glances of pure shock and we felt mixed feelings about the whole situation. 'Yay, our biggest threat just died' or 'Oh no, our biggest chance at getting into the finals has just died' – we really didn't know what to think anymore. The avalanche slowed down to a halt, and as if in response to its end, the third cannon sounded for today.

"Three." I muttered to myself, looking around the snow filled area around me. From the corner of my eye I could see two figures hi-fiving each other. They were small figures and when the light shone on their faces, I noticed them as the two from District 3. So _this _is where they've been hiding out all this time.

"The hack worked!" The boy squealed before the girl shushed him.

"You have to be quiet!"

"But Wann, this is so exciting! I can't believe I did it!" He continued having his little party by himself by throwing his arms up in the air and giving a little wiggle. "This means I beat you on the kill count now."

Wann rolled her eyes and pulled out a small pocket knife. "If I kill you that means we'll be even. How's that?" She hissed.

The boy went quiet and as if some form of unspoken conversation concluded in fleeing, they leapt from tree to tree away from us and out of sight.

Jewel continued to stare out blankly at where Ketch's body was submerged deep into the avalanche; so far down that I couldn't even see him apart from the gaping hole in the snow. The avalanche was of a really soft snow too, so walking along it would've been impossible unless you fell through into the icy abyss and plummet to your death like Ketch. I clung onto the tree for dear life as us remaining Careers remained in our positions unable to speak.

The boy mentioned earlier that a hack worked… and the increasing kill count. Even though I lived in an electronics deprived district, doesn't mean I haven't used a computer before. I know what hacking is. And if I have interpreted this correctly, the boy must've whizzed something up and managed to trigger that avalanche. That explains the clock – the Gamemakers never put a timer when a natural disaster is about to occur. If that boy really did create that avalanche, then he must've put that timer on to just unhinge everybody. Honestly, I was surprised the avalanche didn't kill all of us.

Danny was the first to get back to his senses as he motioned for us to relocate at a more sturdy location rather than hanging ten meters above a mountain of snow. We arrived back at the Cornucopia after dragging our feet along a path that led us straight there after a few hours, which I was assuming was currently mid afternoon. It was a long, tiring day with the kill count going to another tribute. I don't get how he would get credit for it though because it was an external kill. Wait, _how _did he manage to hack the arena in the first place? Being in District 3 I would understand his ability to hack and all, but how did he get a hold on something to be able to in the first place? He must've had some sort of accomplice in the Capitol, surely… Suddenly I remembered the little boy who was tapping away on the edible plants and animals' station that wasn't actually doing the test. He must've set up the hack then.

And the girl? She said that if she killed the boy, then they would've been even in terms of kill count. Assuming that the only kills he's had was from the avalanche today, that'd make three in total. Three minus one equals to two. So the girl, Wann I think? She must've knocked off two tributes at the very least.

This was all very mind blowing. The death of three people, one including Ketch and the discovery that the two from District 3 were not to be underestimated. I didn't really know what to do about all of this. I could be blindly guessing about everything for all I knew. Dinner came and Jewel changed from sad to super angry. She was prepared to kill someone, as if Ketch's personality had somehow suddenly rubbed off onto her. "What's for dinner?" She grunted, pushing the snow together in her hands.

"I'll go look for food in the storages." Vee volunteered, jumping up from her spot to search our supplies stashes. She came back not long later with a frown on her face. "It's all gone." She said.

"What?"

"It's all gone. Everything's gone." She looked around at us. "All the supplies have disappeared."

"The avalanche must've swept it all away." I frowned.

"Why the heck!" Jewel stomped around the Cornucopia and kicked it. "Stupid, stupid…!" She muttered frequently to herself while kicking up a big fuss. "This is _not _a good day!"

Jewel unsheathed her sword and began slashing away at a tree. It became all jagged and messy with the leafless branches falling around everywhere. I walked up to her and placed my hand on her shoulder. She reacted really fast by maneuvering her sword down on me, which I barely managed to reflect with a small knife. "Whoa there Jewel." I said, holding her sword back. She put her sword back into its sheath. "Just wanted to tell you that Danny, Vee and I all packed emergency food. Apart from yours, we have both our tents still and all the necessities. Hopefully you've kept the weapons that you need with you though."

"How long will the food last?" She asked with a gruff voice.

"Probably around five to six days?" I said uncertainly.

"Probably?" Jewel said with an edge to her voice.

"Around five or six days." I corrected.

"That's long enough to survive before a feast, maybe." She shrugged and walked back to Vee and Danny. I took a large sigh of relief that I did not just die in front of my boyfriend.

The sun went down and the moon rose, illuminating the freezing night. Even though it was excruciatingly cold, I knew that spring would come in just a few hours. Danny and I were on the patrol for the night and the only reason why we kept patrolling in twos was because time passed faster when there was company. We also offered Jewel to sleep in our tent because I didn't trust her to share the same tent as Vee in the mental state she was in right now.

The anthem blared and Ketch's face appeared in the sky with his tough guy expression. I wondered what it was like, buried alive in a heap of snow and never knowing that the person who actually ended you was a small, thirteen year old boy that was made out of skin and bones. What I saw next surprised me. I would've thought that she would've held some sort of skill or would've had at least learned to climb up a tree or something to escape the avalanche, but Lakey's eyes bore into mine, her picture seeming so lifeless hanging in the sky. I guess Vee couldn't really get the satisfaction of killing her as I thought she might've wanted to, but at least we know we've got one less thing to worry about. The boy from eleven also appeared on the screen, but I paid no particular attention to him because I had no previous contact with him whatsoever.

Sitting on the Cornucopia, I could hear Jewel rolling around in the tent nosily. She must be having bad dreams about Ketch. Apparently they never knew each other before the games, but being from the same District kind of gives you somewhat a connection to each other that you'll never be able to let go of. It was like Annie Cresta from my district last year. She saw her district partner get decapitated and look at where it got her. Jewel probably blames herself now for not being able to hold onto Ketch tight enough. Blaming herself for not being strong enough. Blaming herself for everything she shouldn't be blaming herself for. This is the Games, and face it; only one of us will make it out alive.

Danny and I curled up together, smothering each other in the little warmth that was provided by our bodies. He was sad, I could tell. Who wouldn't be? It's like losing a fisherman in your crew. We never really personally liked Ketch, but we knew deep down inside that he was probably the only chance we had at ever making it to the finals where we could just gang up and finish him off.

None of this is necessary anymore. Danny and I didn't have to sit in the cold and think up of ideas of how to betray our own team. Instead, we're sitting in the cold thinking of how easily he died and how easily it could be us next.

Ketch's death had unhinged us, but we can't let it. "Hey Jas." I turned to Danny who was looking at me with a weak expression. He cracked a small smile. "On the bright side, we're in the final eight."

I smiled back at him and enveloped him into a hug. "They would've started interviewing our families. What do you think they're going to ask everyone?"

"Where did you learn that super pro aim you have?"

"Might as well say it although my parents don't know." I turned my head around to where I presumed a camera would be. "I trained illegally for the games but I'm still weak as a lamb. I was going to volunteer but Danny prohibited for me to. One of my seventy tesserae got me into the games this year." I flicked my head back to Danny. "Good?"

He shook his head. "No, no. You made me sound like the bad guy." Danny frowned.

"You're not the bad guy. You were good because you didn't want me to die. It was just unfortunate I was reaped. And it was unfortunate that the miniscule amount of slips you had still got you reaped."

Danny nodded. "That's better." He then flicked his head around just like how Caesar Flickerman always does before his show starts. "So Jasmine, where did you get such a fine, dashing young man?" He imitated with his really fake accent.

I laughed and pulled a serious face as well. "What fine, dashing young man? I don't have one." Danny gasped and frowned. "Oh you mean my boyfriend!" I pretended to be surprised and waved my hand around. "He used bribery and taunt to ask me out. I don't know what mindset I was in to say yes." I laughed again while Danny sat there frowning. "Just kidding with you, Dan!" I punched him lightly on the arm and giggled.

"Fine. I won't be your boyfriend then." He pouted and turned away from me.

"Aw come on Danny! It was just a joke!" I said pleadingly, trying to pull Danny to look at me again. He turned around with this really puppy-eyed face.

"If you give me a kiss, maybe I'll forgive you." His eyes lit up as he puckered his lips and made kissing sounds.

"No thank you." I said stubbornly. He pulled back and turned around again.

"How about if I give you a green apple?" He teased it in front of me. "Your favorite…."

"Fine." I quickly pecked him on the lips and snatched the apple from his hands. I greedily stuck it into my mouth and started chomping away at it.

"Hey! That's not fair!" He argued back, trying to snatch my apple back away from me. "I wanted a kiss!"

"You wanted a kiss, I gave you a kiss." I took a large chunk and began chomping away at it, juice spurting out in all directions.

"I want a proper kiss." He pouted childishly looking down at me.

"What if I say no?"

"I'll wake up Jewel and tell her you killed Ketch."

"I'm terrified." I said sarcastically. "Besides, an avalanche killed him. How on earth would you be able to lie about that?"

"I don't know. I just want a kiss." He shrugged and leant in towards me. I rolled my eyes and giggled before we kissed, which I guess in a way we shouldn't be doing because we have our eyes closed, supposed to be patrolling and someone could totally just stab us from behind right now.

After we broke off, I told Danny about the two from District 3. He understood almost straight away and knew what it meant. "We shouldn't tell Jewel. She'll go on a rampage knowing that someone actually caused Ketch's death." He said.

"Alright, what do you propose we do?" I asked.

"We should finish them ourselves. Jewel will run off out of here and we won't be able to protect her in the case of anything to happen."

"Okay then. You can plan out how this is going to work." I trust Danny would make the right decisions in this situation. All his other ideas have worked out so far.

Morning arrived and spring warmed up the arena. We both were so exhausted from sitting and forcing our eyes open that Vee insisted that we slept but Jewel had other plans.

"I heard you two last night." She said. Oh crap. I looked around at Danny. "The boy from District 3 killed Ketch. He rigged the system."

I fell silent and didn't know what to say. I looked at Danny who shrugged at Jewel. "Yeah."

"When were you guys going to tell me?" She began to shout furiously.

_Never._I thought. She must've fallen asleep before we began talking about how we _shouldn't _tell her about what had happened. "Well, we were going to tell you when you were calmer but… I guess it's too late now." Danny shrugged again, pretending like nothing ever happened.

"No shit it's too late." Jewel scowled. She began to gather her few remaining items and stuff them into her pack as well as picking up two swords and taking one into each hand. "I'm going to kill that kid and there's nothing you can do to stop me."

"Well, yeah we can't stop you…" Danny said smoothly, looking towards the ground and kicking up the dirt a little. "But I'm just wondering where that boy will be? Remember the girl from District 8? She mentioned that there was a girl – a brunette – that set up those traps that managed to snag both you and Ketch. That girl from District 3, she happens to be a brunette."

Jewel stood there, hanging onto every word Danny was saying. I tried to help him out. "They probably don't think that we know that they set up the avalanche. But, that girl she's definitely someone to look out for. You really think she's just going to let you prance in on them and just kill them that easily? She's bound to have something set up for you."

Jewel hesitated for a moment but shook her head as if to shake away the problems we embedded into her mind. "You're wrong. You're overestimating these kids and you're underestimating me. Sure, the boy can type on a computer and the girl can set up some traps, but I can kill. Once I see them, they will never see the light of day ever again."

With that, Jewel ran off into the forest back towards the mountain. The snow would've cleared because of the change in season already but I was more worried about how irrational she was thinking at this moment. It's stupid. She's running straight into a trap and she's going to die a meaningless death. "It's no use. We have to help her." Danny said as we quickly packed up our things and began chasing after her. Vee learnt how to quickly take down the tent recently so everything was hoisted onto our backs within less than three minutes. Jewel had a few minutes lead on us, and her speed probably outmatched us but there are three of us and just one of her. Hopefully, we find her before anything goes pear shaped.

We ran through the forest, zipping past the trees where we clung onto so dearly yesterday and the spot where I spied on Arjun and Lakey. We raced past towards the mountain and began to climb steadily up its harsh contours with no luck in finding Jewel. She was gone – alone, angry and with not a single bit of sense left within her.

"She's a goner." I mumbled as we trudged through grass down on the north side of the mountain.

"We can't think that Jas." Vee insisted optimistically.

"Why can't we think that?" I began to yell. "It's been hours! That boy, he's smart enough to pull off something this big, who knows what other skills he has up his sleeve that we haven't been shown yet! And, the girl! If she's the brunette the District 8 girl mentioned, then she's as good as dead!" I threw my hands up in the air, feeling absolutely helpless.

"Jasmine." Danny said calmly. "Jewel is a great fighter. We just have to believe in her."

"Why do you care so much about Jewel anyway?" Vee pondered.

Yeah, why do I care about her so much? Why is this infuriating me to the point I'm yelling at my boyfriend and my friend? I shouldn't care. If she dies, that's just better for me right? A lady with long black hair, sparkling eyes… Rubbing ointment onto my father's feet…

"She reminds me of my mother." I breathed.

"Come to think of it, she kind of does look like her." Danny said, losing himself in his thoughts.

"She doesn't just look like her. When Jewel was with Ketch she'd patch him up and she'd be able to translate whatever crap he utters out of his mouth to us. When my father's upset, my mum understands and always manages to calm him down…" I felt a tear run down my cheek as my voice got all choked up. I quickly wiped away my tear and breathed in and out slowly a few times. "I'm fine."

There was a quick sparkle in the sky before a silver parachute floated down towards us as we stopped trekking and looked at it. Since we were the Career troop, we would never be able to tell whose sponsor it was from. Danny picked it up and opened it, revealing three of each of the following: a transparent plastic poncho and a tank top each for Vee and I and a singlet for Danny for hot weather. The fluctuations in weather weren't all that bad to be having to change out of the normal clothing and into the tank tops but I guess it wouldn't hurt to change once in awhile. It wasn't all that hot right now so I stuffed my set of new clothes into my pack with everyone else graciously thanking whoever sent us the clothes.

That had certainly taken our mind off things for awhile, but Jewel was still missing and the next time I see her, I really hoped it wouldn't be crying next to her dead body.

"You!" I whipped my head around to find who that voice belonged to. "You, you… mutt!"

The voice was trembling as Danny, Vee and I quickly rushed towards the general direction of the voice. We hid behind a tree in case and looked to see Jewel confronting the District 3 boy. "The name's Ryan." He said casually, yawning. He must be good. He must be pretty damn good to just be standing there so confidently, taunting someone as good as Jewel.

"You, you killed Ketch!" She continued screaming, pointing her finger at him with rage filled eyes.

"Yeah, what about it?" The boy seemed just as skinny as the last time I had seen him properly in the training centre. Where was Wann? I scanned the area to find his partner but she was nowhere to be found. This is not good.

"You're going to pay. I'm going to make sure your family doesn't have a single part of you left to bury." Jewel raced forward towards Ryan, swords in both hands out and focused on their target. Ryan didn't even hesitate or bother to move and I found out why next. There was an invisible string at the feet and Jewel tripped over it before it set off one of Wann's ingenious traps. It was the same old trap, dangling Jewel in mid air with one foot, wrapping her hands securely around her body. Her swords fell onto the ground away from reach – you would've thought that at least before running, she would've detected the reason why Ryan looked so confident and the reason why his partner wasn't around.

A shadow then back flipped next to Ryan from an overhanging tree above as they both started laughing. "I heard you fell for the same trap back on the south west path." Wann sniggered, looking at Jewel helplessly fight her way to try get out.

"Damn Wann, why did you set up this trap again? This trap is pretty useless! You should've done the one that killed the other guy!"

"It's not my fault that we were caught on such short notice." Wann hissed back, making Ryan flinch a little. "And it's not my fault that she decided to jump out nowhere either! Oh well, let's see what we have here... pathetic little District 1."

"Pathetic?" Jewel smirked as the ropes released and she unsheathed her pocket knife."I knew you'd set up that trap. I was just trying to figure out how to avoid it. Genius, don't you think?"

The two were now susceptible to Jewel's next attacks, with no weapons, no more traps set up and nowhere to hide. "Run!" Wann screamed, making a break for it.

Jewel didn't care about Wann – she wasn't the one that killed Ketch. However, I believe that she's actually the one that everyone's meant to be looking out for rather than her partner. Ryan had a very slow reaction time, taking a whole three seconds to process that he was in danger. By the time he realized though, Jewel already had him by the hair with one hand, and a sword through his heart with the other.

His eyes trailed up towards Jewel's and he forced out a small laugh. "You can destroy its programmer, but without them, you will never be able to reverse it."

The cannon boomed loudly as I felt the earth vibrate a little before ceasing. Jewel stood there with her sword still plunged right through his limp body, his eyes rolling to the back of his head, succumbed to Jewel's strength. Really? It was that easy? That boy must've just gotten by on his hacks alone. His partner must've been all the brains in their endeavors in the Hunger Games, and now that Ryan's gone, she's probably having a little celebration that she doesn't have to look after an extra person.

I suddenly feel a large kick to my lower abdomen, clutching at it with my hand. It was unlike anything I've felt before, something like a stomach ache only much, much worse.

"Jasmine, are you ok-" Danny began as I ran over to a nearby tree and barfed all over it for several minutes before it began to cease. Just as I cleaned up however, my stomach brought me round two.

Danny rushed over to me and tried to comfort me. "Jasmine, it's going to be alright."

"Does this look alright to you?" I screamed at him, leaning over and hurling for god knows how many times.

Danny shut up and frowned, rubbing my back. "It's going to be fine, I'm here okay? Where does it hurt?"

Is this guy mental? Where does it hurt? "I'm clutching my stomach and I'm barfing my brains out! Where the hell do you think it hurts?" I continued yelling.

"Drink some water." He offered, pulling out his water bottle.

"Sorry Danny, my mouth is currently occupied talking to you and barfing. So if you will excuse me, it can only really do one thing at a time."

I was in so much freaking pain I didn't care what I said or did to Danny. I pushed him away and continued to barf my guts out; trying to think of what the hell caused my stomach to be so upset.

I don't know how long it was before it finally stopped. I'm exhausted from leaning over and constantly tasting this fowl mush mixed with my own stomach acid in my mouth that when after I clean up, I collapsed into Danny's arms, my vision blurring and darkness overwhelming my world.

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><p><strong>So, what did you think? Please review or PM me! Your comments motivate me so much and is what keeps me from studying Biology! ):<strong>

**I'm estimating roughly another 6-7 chapters until I finish this story. There _will _be a sequel that with tie in with the actual Hunger Games - yes I already have plans! But it won't be nearly as long as this fanfic.  
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**Hope you enjoyed reading it! I'd love to discuss the story with you and send you my very own (excruciatingly detailed -coughcough-) map of the arena. At the end of this fanfic, I will also post up a chapter that will explain most of the choices I made in the story such as people's names, personalities and the set up of the arena and some events. Most of them actually tie in with my real life. :D  
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**I'd love to have a chat with you! PM me! :)  
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	10. Chapter 10

Hi guys! It's been a whole month, and my mid-years have passed so I was finally able to finish this chapter. This chapter is another roughly long-ish one, but its more jammed packed with heaps of events occurring and its more full on than the last few I think. Or maybe its just like the other chapters just condensed into one chapter… I don't know! Either way, I may seem like I'm rushing towards the finale because that's the part I'm the most excited about!

**I'm really curious as to who your favourite character is! Please _review _my story and tell me how I'm going with it! I really hope you like this! I can't wait to write the next chapter! **

There are six days left in the arena, so who will fall and how?

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><p><strong>Chapter Ten<strong>

I was lying in the tent and had a strip of wet material draped across my forehead. Outside was carpeted with orange leaves, the air sort of humid. I felt a whole lot better but where was everyone? Just on cue, Danny unzipped the door of the tent and sat down next to me. I watched his every move, wondering whether I should say something. I opened my mouth a few times, so much questions just wanting to burst out but nothing came so I shut it and lay back down. It was now his turn to watch me, his strange girlfriend that won't even apologize for the things she said about him… yesterday? "What day is it?" I asked him, looking up.

"The afternoon of day 10. You were knocked out for two days." He muttered, looking out towards the trees.

"Any other kills apart from Ryan?" I asked again. I think I was really testing our relationship by asking all these ridiculous questions.

"Nope." He said. "It's been quiet."

Silence overwhelmed the atmosphere again as I peeled the material off of my head and folded it. Not knowing what to do with it, I rubbed it in between my hands, staring at its fibers. "I'm sorry." I muttered, not wanting to look at him. I felt terrible. Sure, I was in a lot of pain but that gives me no excuse to start yelling at my own boyfriend who was trying to help me out. "Everything… it just really hurt and I was upset about everything and-"

Danny held two fingers to my lips, which forced me to look up at him. "It's alright. I'm here for you. I'll always be here for you."

A smile broke across my face as I leapt into Danny's arms, snuggling up against his chest. "I love you so much." I whispered, hoping he wouldn't feel my heart racing a thousand miles per hour.

"Love you more." He said in a teasing voice.

Vee's face was then seen peering into our tent with her cheeky smile. She waved excitedly and rushed in towards me. "Jasmine?" She said uncertainly.

"Um, yeah? That _is _my name."

"Oh my gosh you're awake!" She screamed, hugging me. Danny just sat by watching us, laughing as Vee choked me.

Vee then flicked her head towards Danny and said, "I'm going to borrow her for awhile. You mind?"

"Sure, just steal my girlfriend away from me just when she wakes up from a coma." He said seriously but Vee seemed to take it as sarcasm.

"Thanks!" She yelled, tugging on my arm to drag me off. I had no choice but to follow her so I pulled a jacket on and we walked off towards the east side of the Cornucopia. We were on the border of the large clearing, near the path that would lead us towards the stream but Vee started to slow down and that's when she gushed even more. "I can't believe you're alive! We all thought you were gone!"

"Gone? Where would I go?" I said, dumbfounded.

"You collapsed! Your breathing was so faint we couldn't even hear it! The only reason why we didn't give up hope was because there were never a cannon for you and your face never appeared in the sky!"

"Why bring me all the way out here just to tell me that?" I frowned.

"Well I didn't know whether this would hurt your precious boyfriend's pride, but he was a madman not knowing what was going to happen. He kept yelling random things and killing random things. We've got a pile of wallabies for dinner if you want."

"Nah, I think I need to keep it low with the food. I might just barf out my whole digestive system out next."

Vee laughed and nodded. "Alright." She looked back towards the Cornucopia. "If you feel unwell again, just tell us and we'll stop."

"Okay."

"We mean it Jas, we don't care whether you're supposed to look tough and everything, but sometimes you just need to look after yourself better."

I smiled. "Thanks Vee. But…" I looked around the place in case anyone was nearby. "Would you keep a secret for me?"

"A secret? Does Danny know?" She asked, cocking her eyebrow.

"No he doesn't… well; I actually want you to make sure you keep this away from him."

Vee gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. "You're telling me a secret that your own boyfriend doesn't know? To me? A girl you only met two weeks ago?"

"Well yeah." I shrugged.

Vee pondered for a bit before nodding a yes. I leaned in towards her and began to detail her in on my thoughts about the problems I've been having and what to do with it. She listened right up until the end, agreeing with me the whole way. "Yeah. Don't tell Danny. Not now anyway."

"Thanks for listening to me."

Vee shrugged. "That's what friends are for, right?"

"Right."

As we began walking back towards the Cornucopia, the anthem blared and Vee and I listened in for the details of a feast. However, an announcement of a feast didn't come as a clock appeared in the air just like before, this time with the countdown one minute away from the hour. "This is not good." Vee said, dashing towards where Danny was, pointing up to the sky.

"We have to get out of here!" I screamed throwing all the things we needed into a bag. Dammit! Why out of all days that we were totally unprepared for a sudden attack we'd get one today? Luckily most of the supplies were already in our bags as we managed to pack almost everything but the portable stoves and three of the four blankets we had remaining. It didn't matter. We had to get out of there, and fast. "Where the hell is Jewel?" I screamed to Danny and Vee as we raced towards the area we knew had trees that we could climb.

"She went out hunting this morning; we can't worry about her now!" Danny screamed back, trying to hopelessly search for the trees.

A loud bleep sounded as a rush of water began flooding into the arena, rapidly destroying everything in its path. "Hold onto something!" Vee yelled, clinging onto the trunk of a nearby tree.

I made my way towards another tree and bear-hugged it as the flood swept over us, pulling us into the water a few times. Luckily however, my monkey grip allowed me to stay attached to the trunk as I floated up along with the flood rise. I swallowed a mouthful of that water mixed with the debris of the trees, soil and the mass of crunchy maple leaves. Promptly spitting it back out, I quickly flicked my face to find Danny and Vee. We were the three that put our hands up saying that we could swim the day we had our Career troop meeting and luckily that ability paid off.

Wait. Jewel didn't put her hand up. Jewel can't swim. Jewel… _boom! _The cannon sounded as the flood continued to rush past my face, trying frantically to gasp for air. The water began to pluck my fingers off of the tree and I slowly began losing my grip on it. Vee and Danny were struggling just as much as I was as the current was too strong. I lost my grip and began to wash away, my back crashing into all the trees, bushes and everything that was in my path.

I held onto my stomach instinctively and wanted to assume the white water position that I remember my parents teaching me when I was just a kid. The heavy bag I had on my back was dragging me down under with the weight so I unclipped it off of myself and allowed it to wash away. Feeling much lighter, I found a tree and grabbed it; trying to haul myself up with the little energy I had left from trying to fight the flood. Danny had already managed to get himself up onto a tree as he was trying really hard to help Vee up too.

"Vee! Get rid of your pack!" I screamed, hoping that she could hear me. They were around fifty meters away and I had to compete with the noise of the rushing water.

However, she must've heard me because she pulled the pack off and threw it into the water. With the extra amount of weight discarded, Danny easily lifted her out of the water and onto the safety of the tree. They managed to catch sight of me as we waited for the water to cease.

_Boom! _The sound of the cannon startled me. Danny? Danny! Don't tell me…! Please!

I found myself nestling up to a nook in the tree, the water nowhere to be found. I must've fallen asleep somehow in the midst of all that drama.

"Jasmine!" I heard someone yell from below. "Wake up sleepy head!"

I turned my head around, trying to adjust to the light. I looked down below to find Danny and Vee down there with a single pack left. "MmMm…" I tried to speak.

"What?"

"What… happened…?" I mumbled. I turned around and tried to move myself out of my position that I was stuck in.

"Wait, Jasmine!" Vee screamed. It caught my attention so I stopped moving around. "It's alright, I'll help!"

Vee leapt up the tree and aided me to slowly climb down it. She gave me a light hug and placed a finger on my stomach. "Safe and sound." She giggled, prancing back off to Danny, trying to pull the hiking pack from his back.

"You all good?" He asked when he came over to me.

"Yeah, I guess." I mumbled. "I still don't get how I managed to fall asleep in all that."

"Who knows?" He laughed. "Let's see what we have left, shall we?"

Vee already poured the contents of the pack out on the ground. Luckily, Danny was the one carrying the most so we still had a tent, two blankets, some empty bottles and a few bits of food left. It definitely wasn't enough to last for all of us until maybe a feast came around.

"How long do you think this will last?" Vee asked the both of us.

"If Jewel's still here, maybe until tomorrow lunchtime." Danny said. I was beginning to doubt that Jewel was still alive though. She can't swim after all.

"Damn…" Vee mumbled, sifting through the food. "A few packets of biscuits, dried fruit, nuts and some dried fish…" She looked up at Danny with a confused face. "This will last us to dinner!"

"We have to ration it proportionally then." Danny said calmly.

"I'll hunt, it's alright Vee." I said, beginning to look around at the landscape around me. Everything was broken, snapped or washed away. The land was bare and you could easily find the paths and the clearings in all directions. There was no more of that thick foliage that made easy hiding spots – the whole place had been thinned out. Some trees were still standing however; the really tall, strong trunked ones. Luckily, because if we had chosen the wrong tree… we could be on the other side of the map for all we know, or possibly even dead. I looked at the other two, worrying about our food problem and that they could've possibly been dead now. This must be meant to be. Fate must be saying we were meant to stay alive to shelter each other from the dangers of this treacherous game – or well, just for a little while longer at least.

As we headed back to our original campsite, things began to twist around in my head. Is it getting hotter than usual? Sure, I know today is an autumn day but it's much hotter than the past two autumn days we've been having. It's as if the Gamemakers had decided to turn up the heat in the arena. And where the hell are our sponsors? I never really worried about them before because we pretty much had all we needed but seriously? We've almost died countless times, Ketch is gone and Jewel may as well be too! Someone have some sympathy out there somewhere? We're going to starve, god dammit!

During our time here in the arena, we've been given what, two or three gifts? The binoculars, tank top, plastic ponchos and a singlet. All of which, we have lost due to the flood. Nice.

"Hey Dan, we're close to the Cornucopia so why don't you set up things while I go hunting?" I said, pointing in another direction that I think may have some scrumptious wallabies.

"Sure." Danny said, shrugging.

"I'll come with you." Vee said, insisting that she come. She raised her eyebrow up at me as I sighed.

When Danny was out of sight, I glared at Vee. "I'm not weak Vee. You've been treating me that way ever since I told you my secret."

"I don't think you're weak Jasmine." She said back, trying to defend herself. "I just don't want you to do anything rash that might injure the baby!"

I was taken aback. "I'm not even sure I have a baby!" I yelled.

"Well you sure have been barfing like a pregnant woman a lot lately now haven't you?" Vee breathed out and calmed down a little. "It makes sense, Jasmine. You're slower than you were the first few days in the arena. Why the hell do you even have a baby in the first place?"

"I don't know, okay! I don't know that I even have a baby! There's nothing to confirm that I do!"

As if it were some sort of a death wish, a silver parachute floated down. Vee snatched it and opened it. "Well, if you want proof. Find out for yourself." She handed me over a small round container with a white lid. "Pee in it."

"What?"

"I said, pee in the cup Jasmine!" I flinched at the tone of her voice. I've never heard Vee yell like this before. "You said you didn't know whether you had a baby or not. Thanks to our oh-so-very generous sponsors, now you'll know."

I held the container in my hand. "How will I find out if I am pregnant?" I mumbled nervously.

"The label will turn red for positive, yellow for negative."

"I'll be back then…" I slowly walked away, fumbling with the small container in my hand. I placed my other hand onto my stomach, feeling absolutely horrible and sick to the stomach. What if I have a kid? It's one thing to risk my life and possibly die out here but bring an innocent child down with me? Sure, I killed that girl from District 8 and Arjun; killing a baby inside of me when I die is no different, right?

All the dirty water I drank from the flood paid off in the end as I managed to fill up the container. I screwed the lid back on and waited for the label to change colour. I closed my eyes, not daring to look at the label. Please be yellow. Yellow is a nice colour. Yellow is my dad's favourite colour and for the next few minutes, it'll be mine too.

I slowly forced one eye to open but I couldn't see anything due to the blurriness of trying to half open my eye, I opened both my eyes and blinked.

_Red._

That's not right. It's wrong! I can't be pregnant. I never had… Then it hit me.

_I looked up at him with lust filled eyes and kissed him again._

"_Are you sure?" He asked, looking at me with concern._

_I nodded, looking downwards. "I'm sure." I replied._

I looked down at the bright, red label and then to my flat stomach. I couldn't help but smile. She's mine. Not only mine, but she's Danny's too. Pulling out my necklace, I smiled and ran my hand over its smooth surface. Through everything, it's still intact.

I walked back to Vee grinning. She looked at me with a confused face. "Yellow?" She asked. I shook my head. "Red? You're pregnant? Why do you look so happy about it?"

"I realized it was Danny's." I said, beaming and caressing my stomach.

"Well, who else's would it be?" She said sarcastically. "Unless you-"

"NO!" I screamed. "I only did it once. With Danny."

Vee rolled her eyes and hugged me. "Congrats. Let's celebrate with some wallaby tonight. Are you going to tell Danny?"

My eyes widened. "No."

"Why not."

"You see the way you acted when you _thought_ I was pregnant! He's my boyfriend; he's going to make sure I don't do anything anymore if he finds out!"

"Fine, alright then." She said, giving up. "Let's get some grub."

We managed to kill quite a few wallabies and a groosling before heading back to the Cornucopia. It was dark as well, so Danny would've gotten fairly worried. He had the tent set up and a massive bonfire.

"Danny!" I yelled, looking at the bonfire. "What the hell is this?"

"Something to cook our food in." He grinned.

"This isn't a fire that you can cook food in; this is a fire that could potentially become a gigantic hazard!" Danny looked shocked and frowned. "You're going to lure other tributes to come kill us while we eat."

"No, if that were the case the other tributes would've tried to kill us already here. They're being smart by avoiding us, and by having a huge fire, we're showing off that 'hi we're home and we're still going strong!' so if they're smart, they won't come." He shrugged as he skewered a wallaby onto a stick and held it out into the fire.

I settled down as I picked up another stick he had lying next to him and skewered another wallaby into it and sat down next to Danny. "Sorry, I've been a little cranky a lot lately."

I could hear Vee scoff in the corny and laugh slightly. _Mood swings. _Yeah, I'll get you later Vee. "It's alright. We're all getting a little cranky in the arena. It's next exactly something we want to be doing. Besides, I know you."

Man, this guy is way too good. No matter what I do to him – bad or good, he still sticks to me like glue. I'm so fortunate and I know it.

As I expected, Jewel's face hung high in the sky that night, her small smile and her glistening eyes. It's hard to tell that that person up there was no longer with us.

"Rest in peace, Jewel." I said, staring at the sky.

Another girl's face pops up and I found out she was from District 10 – a face I don't recognize. She must've been pretty good to make it this far though.

"Who do you think is left?" Vee asked after the place went dark again. The only light source was emitting from our fire, which had calmed down to a gentle crackle.

"Well… we're the last three in the Careers group. No one would've guessed it to be us though." I laughed. Everyone would've placed their bets on Jewel and Ketch – or all the physically capable people, not the people that were smarter or more agile.

"I'm pretty sure only five of us are left… before Ryan died, it was eight tributes. Now that he's gone as well as Jewel and the other girl from District 10, there should only be five. Wann is the fourth, including us. The fifth… I'm not sure."

"I know." I said, remembering the starting circle. "The boy that started off on my right from District 8. He has a very good physique – that's probably why he made it this far. Don't know anything about him otherwise."

"Never saw his strengths in the training center either. You killed his district partner though so I'm pretty sure he would be after you Jasmine."

I saw Vee's eyes widen before I gave her a glare. _Just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean I'm weak! I'm like what, two weeks pregnant? _"He'll have to catch me first." I giggled, trying to wash away the signs of worry and concern Vee had for me. I'm glad she cares for me, but this is caring to the extreme. I wish she could tone down a little.

"Well, let's hit the hay." Danny proposed, opening the tent door. "I'll keep watch tonight if you want."

"I'll do it." I said, standing up and brushing leaves off of my bum. "I've been sleeping for two days anyway. I'm getting bored of it. You guys need your rest."

"I'll stay up with you." Vee insisted.

"No. I'm fine by myself." I hissed back. I pretty much leapt up to the top of the Cornucopia, trying to show off to Vee that I was still physically okay. "Just get some rest, Vee."

Vee finally gave up and went into the tent. Yes, Danny and Vee were sharing the tent together but I trust that they wouldn't do anything.

Everything's becoming so surreal now. All this time I felt as if I was with a bunch of friends on a really dangerous camp… but it's suddenly hit me again. _I'm in the Hunger Games. _I looked towards the tent where I could see Danny and Vee sleeping soundly. There are five of us left. _Only one of us can get out. _

"We need a new hideout." Danny proposed the next morning. "We've been camping out at the Cornucopia since the start of the games. Nothing's changing with us being here. Plus…" He looked up at the darkening clouds that loomed above our heads. "The Cornucopia may not be able to shelter us for what's coming on this winter's day."

We packed our things and headed off towards the clearing by the stream. It was more concealed than the forest due to the flood yesterday, so hopefully the shelter of the rocks would prove to be better. "A hailstorm is approaching." Vee confirmed, watching the sky.

"How do you know?" I asked, trying to figure out she could distinguish between rain and hail from just the clouds.

"I just do." She frowned, ushering for us to walk faster. She licked her finger and held it up to the breeze. "The wind would be blowing through the Cornucopia so the hail would be carried with it. So, if we hid out in the Cornucopia the hail would definitely kill us. _Especially_ man-made Gamemaker ones."

Suddenly frightened from the uncertain future, we began to sprint towards the clearing that was surrounded by rocks and caves. We found a particular cave that had sturdy roofing and a great foundation. It was the type of cave that would last through a hailstorm. So, after chucking our things in we set up the tent _inside _the cave for warmth and began to fill up the entrance with rocks.

The cave was pitch black because we had filled it up well, with only a few thin streaks of light shining through the gaps. That's when the first bits of hail began hitting our new home; from the sounds of it, the hail was like the size of tennis balls. They smashed against the rocks, like breaking glass against a concrete pavement. Danny and I were curled up together, trying to keep warm and shield us from the tremendous amount of noise outside. Vee was hiding herself underneath the blanket, shuddering from the cold.

Danny leant his chin down on my head, nuzzling into its oiliness. He wrapped his arms around me and we sat there in that position. Hopefully someone dies out there from this killer storm so we don't have to kill them.

"Jasmine." Danny breathed against my hair.

"Yes?" I asked, looking up at him and giving him a soft smile.

"You stink."

I pushed him off of me and gasped jokingly. "Well excuse me! You stink more than I do but I'm not complaining!"

"We're stinky buddies." He laughed, holding me tighter, refraining me from moving.

I frowned and poked my tongue out. "Yes, yes we are."

He clasped onto my hand and intertwined his fingers around mine. "You're warm at least." He said, rubbing his hands on mine.

"My hands are always warm."

"Come here my heater." He said, snuggling into me more.

Danny and I never once mentioned that only one of us could get out. I think it was in our minds the whole time but we never wanted to bring it up. Spending this time together is what counts. Maybe the sponsors will be sympathetic for us and want to create some sort of a new rule? What do we have to do in order to get them to think that?

"Danny," I began, shifting my weight back onto his chest. "I love you."

He scoffed and laughed slightly. "What?" I screamed, suddenly feeling offended.

"No, no!" Danny laughed, trying to pull me back into his arms. "I was just wondering why you became _my _girlfriend out of everyone else in our district."

"Well if I didn't say yes, I wouldn't have gotten a green apple." I teased.

"Well if you said no, then I would've stopped bothering you!" He retorted.

"Then no!" I laughed.

"You can't take it back now!"

"Fine," I crossed my arms and pouted. "But just so you know I-"

"Shush." He said, holding a finger up to his lips.

"What, now you're not listening to me?"

"No, the hail stopped."

I stopped and listened as well – he was right, the hail had stopped. And you would've thought we would've noticed.

"Let's go outside," He said, pulling me up from my spot and moving some of the rocks from the front of our cave.

"What are we going to do about Vee?" I asked, frowning and looking back to her who fell asleep in the tent with the blanket covered on top of her.

"Let her sleep. We're not going too far so we can still keep watch of the tent."

"Alright."

We walked down towards the clearing and grabbed a drink from the fresh flowing water fountain, each of us eyeing the cave from afar to detect any possible suspicious movement.

There were two others that we didn't trust, _especially _that Wann. She was ridiculously good at setting up traps. Ryan, that guy… even though I didn't even think about it before but I'm pretty sure he caused that flood. Even though he's dead. Must be a preset. An avalanche on day 7, and then a flood on day 10. Hopefully he didn't manage to devise anything else. Well, you could always tell that it was his natural disaster and not the Gamemakers when that silly clock appeared to mock us all.

After we had our drink, Danny and I began to walk back to the cave as the sun began to set. "Do you think the hail is generated by Ryan too?" I asked him with curiosity.

"Nah. No clock equals not Ryan, I suppose. The weather has become more escalated lately so I'm assuming its just part of that. If this is winter, imagine summer…"

Blistering hot wind, desert like, I imagine. I really hope it doesn't get too extreme. "How are we going to get the other two?" I said all of a sudden, thinking that we should have some sort of a plan to tackle the next phase of tributes.

"Stick to the plan. Gang up and attack?"

"That was part of the plan? I thought it was more sneaky than that but alright…" I laughed.

We settled ourselves back into the tent (after sealing off the entrance to the cave again) and since Vee was awake, she volunteered to keep watch for the night. Even through the big hailstorm, no one was bashed to death that day.

Spring. I tipped the last hiking pack upside down and allowed its contents to fall out, scattering across the tent floor. Vee, Danny and I all crowded around the last bits of dried fish, packet of dried fruit and packet of biscuits.

"This won't fill us." Vee frowned, flipping over the food a couple of times as if they would magically multiply in front of our eyes.

"I can always hunt." I resolved, hacking away at the cave, loosening the rocks.

"Yeah, then we might as well finish these now."

When we finished eating the last of our food, I stepped outside and looked at the barren wasteland of an arena. Even through everything, the Gamemakers probably thought it would be funny to not recover any of the environmental damage due to the avalanche and the flood. I sighed and began trudging towards the forest on the other side of the stream. Even though it definitely wasn't as thick as it was before the natural disasters, some sort of animal should still be lurking around in there.

Vee and Danny followed carefully behind me, watching for any sign of movement of animal or tribute in order to counterattack if required. I tried to find tracks, or any sort of sign of some edible creature that I could easily skin and eat in an instant.

We had no such luck. The place was completely bare and had no sign of any creature at all. The sky didn't have any trace of birds that I could throw a knife at either. Slumping down against a tree, I felt hopeless.

Danny and Vee both sat next to me, waiting for some sort of direction, or by some miracle for an animal to suddenly pop out of nowhere, or a sponsor to kindly send us something. Anything right now – we were desperate for food – because within the next twelve hours, we'll start starving and that's when we're vulnerable to even the weakest of creatures.

Danny then perked his head up and shifted his body around, constantly staring back in the direction of the cave. He then flicked his head around to me, looking at me as if he wanted to say something. He closed his mouth again for a split second before screaming out my name, prancing towards me and pulling me up from my spot.

Vee was just as confused as I was, slowly pulling herself up from her spot too. She looked at us strangely, but Danny was in a trance and didn't seem to notice her presence so I stared intently back at him, trying to comprehend the meaning of his strange actions.

"Jasmine," He said again with a huge grin across his face.

"Yes?"

"Kiss me."

I paused for a second. All that excitement just because he wanted a kiss? My man must be getting desperate. "What do you mea-"

"-What did you always get whenever you kissed me, Jasmine?" He insisted, cutting me off. I really wasn't in the mood for trivia right now…

"Green apples…"

"Yes…?" He kept insisting.

Wait. Green apples. The clearing. Spring. Tree. Tree full of green apples. "The green apple tree!" I shouted gleefully, patting myself off and pulling Vee along with me. We raced towards the clearing, exhausting our already-tired and food-deprived bones. Fruit won't fill us, but it's definitely better than going without anything in our stomachs.

We plucked the green apples, chomping on one after the other and piling the cores underneath the tree. It filled our stomachs with an acidic juice that made us crave for fresh water.

"One small bottle left." Danny frowned, holding up the last bottle in front of our eyes.

We allowed Vee to have the first drink except that she was too excited for it and ended up finishing half of the whole bottle. She apologized a lot for being careless but Danny and I refused to acknowledge that it was her fault. We were all thirsty, and we'd probably finish just as much as she did.

"Your turn." Danny said, turning to me with the remainder of the water.

"No, you have it." I said, although I really wanted to just finish the rest of it. I couldn't allow myself to after all that he'd done for me.

"Jasmine." He said sternly.

"Danny." I mimicked in the same tone.

"Drink the water Jasmine."

"After you." I replied stubbornly.

He sighed and took a few small gulps, halving the remainder of the water. I smiled and took the water bottle in my hands and took it up to my lips. The water was so tasty for some reason and it had this cooling sensation that tickled my throat. Once I had finished, I lifted the empty water bottle from sight and looked around. Danny wasn't in sight.

"Jasmine," I heard his voice call my name for the gazillionth time today. I looked down and saw him on one knee, holding out a green apple towards me. "I know I don't have a ring, but we'll find some way to get out of this together. I would walk to the moon and back for you and the Hunger Games can't stand in my way of that. Promise you'll marry me. Someday, somewhere."

I was speechless. Where did this all come from? Maybe it's an act to persuade the Gamemakers to change the rules or something. Maybe this was a part of the plan that Shanty and him devised that completely slipped my mind. Maybe I have to play along. Maybe, just maybe…

"So?" He asked nervously.

"I…" I started, beginning to think about the baby. Should I tell him? He deserves to know…

"You… don't want to?" He said, a choke catching in his voice.

"No, I'd love to." I grinned, springing into his arms and kissing him full on the mouth. He responded by kissing me back, wrapping his arms around my lower back.

A silver parachute floated down after a few minutes of being 'in the moment' as I saw it from the corner of my eye. Danny must've noticed it beforehand though since he grabbed with a single swift of his hand and opened up the lid without taking his eyes off of me. As if he knew that there was going to be a present from a sponsor, he went plucked a ring from the box and slid it onto my ring finger.

I looked at the simplicity of the ring, which simply had the characters that our necklaces make on it and underneath 'we're okay as long as we have each other' carved.

"It's beautiful! Thank you!" I squealed like a fan-girl, hugging him even tighter.

"Don't thank me!" He protested. "Thank our sponsors!"

"Thank you sponsors!" I squealed again.

The contained another ring – which I guess was for Danny. I slid it onto his finger and grinned. This was probably the happiest day of my life. Who would've ever thought anyone would get engaged in the Hunger Games?

The day flew past pretty much like falling in love again. Vee must've felt so left out the whole day though since Danny and I were completely in our own little world. We forgot our need to eat but after we settled down reality started to set in. We were _starving, without _food and growing tiresome by the minute. The rings were nice, but some food would be nice people!

The anthem blared that night and no faces appeared. It's been awfully quiet and we have hardly seen any other tributes for a good few days. The faces disappeared but the anthem didn't play again – instead, we heard the voice of our familiar friend, Claudius Templesmith.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Congratulation's on making it to our final five!" Claudius Templesmith boomed in his loud high-pitched Capitol accent. "We've been toying with the weather a lot lately and we cleared you off any live food. So, tomorrow morning at the break of dawn, there will be a banquet set out for you all. You may take as many as you want. _Our treat. _See you tomorrow!"

"Well," Danny grinned, looking at us and sighing with relief. "Seems like we're not going to starve after all."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

Danny, Vee and I took turns in sleeping so we would be energized and ready for this day. The Gamemakers finally prevented us from starving to death and also gave us the opportunity to finish off the other two tributes by presenting us a feast. There are three of us in a group, and there are two individual tributes. I believe they wouldn't have made an alliance together because we've never seen the boy from District 8 nor does Wann seem like she had the intention of having an alliance with anyone else other than Ryan – and even then, she didn't seem to like the guy very much.

I roused the two from their sleep the moment I felt the sky light up a bit, as the feast was scheduled to be served at the crack of dawn. We all got ready, packed the tent up, sealed the cave off and readied our weapons before heading off down to our old home – the Cornucopia.

Our way back was superbly easy – we knew how to get to the Cornucopia no matter where you would chuck us in the arena, as it had been our hideout for a good time in the games.

"We left home for a day, and we're going back already." Vee laughed.

"I guess we miss it too much." Danny said, readjusting the hiking pack to clip onto his waist tighter.

Just before we make it to the clearing, we tried to hide behind whatever foliage was left. There didn't seem to be anyone in sight, and the banquet had not yet been laid out. All we had to do was wait.

I was pretty certain Wann would be hiding somewhere trying to snatch some food supplies for herself because she'd be up in the mountainous regions the whole time and I supposed her food supply would be low. Unless of course, she didn't want to engage in battle.

On the other hand, the boy from District 8 would definitely be here for some blood. Possibly mine, I guess. I don't really know. I haven't seen him since the first day but he looked tough enough to snap even Danny's neck in half with ease.

"What's the battle plan?" I asked in a loud whisper, trying not to give away our hiding spot – which I guess, was already pretty easy to spot without having to look.

"Don't you remember what Shanty said?" Danny hissed back, trying to move his hands around to try signal some sort of message to me that I just could not convey.

"…no?" I said. "What'd she say? And stop with those arms, I honestly don't get what you're saying."

He sighed and jogged over to me. "Shanty told us that we should wait for tributes to appear to grab stuff at the banquet and whilst they're taking their picks, we shoot them down. Once we're done, we'll pick the food up and have our own formal banquet. Without having to worry about anyone killing us, that is."

"Do you really think a tribute that makes it this far like Wann or the boy from District 8 would seriously dawdle around and pick and choose what they want to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner? They'd just grab whatever they can get their hands on and sprint off, and who knows how long that'll take? A good five seconds I reckon, and I already take about three of those seconds to just adjust my aim."

Danny shrugged. "I'm just repeating what our _mentor _told us, Jasmine. That is all. I just think that we should wait it out and if we see a tribute, you can take a shot at them with your knives."

"Alright then. Sounds like a plan. Does Vee know?"

Danny shook his head.

"Well go tell her and we'll do this as a team, okay?"

"Yes sir." he laughed.

Light began to glimmer over the horizon when a hovercraft appeared and a table was laid out in front of the Cornucopia. Food. Tons of it. It was all laid out neatly like a buffet, the wind picking up its scent allowed it to waft in our direction. My stomach growled in reply but I knew I couldn't go for it just yet. I had to wait.

I stood poised with a knife in hand; ready to throw it in any direction as I awaited someone to jump out to grab some of the temptations that lay only a few meters in front of me. Vee and Danny had their eyes fixated on the table as well, probably mesmerized with the sight of food. We hadn't eaten a proper full meal for around two days, and we were on the track to starvation if we didn't get our hands on what was in front of us. But, we suppressed our cravings and waited.

Every second that flipped by felt like hours. We hoped that someone would just jump out so I could kill him or her, then we would easily be able to walk up and enjoy our meal without having to worry about someone trying to kill us from behind. I broke my gaze off to take a glimpse of Danny, hoping that he would be safe. He _is_ my fiancé_, _after all.

But when I looked around, Danny's face lit up. I turned back around to see what was causing that to see the District 8 boy sprinting for the banquet table, snatching up a few things with his eyes darting around the clearing. I quickly spun my knife around in my hand and threw it with all my strength, only for him to block it with his spear. Dammit! He was expecting it! If only I didn't break my gaze off! I quickly slid another knife out of my vest and throw it towards him, only this time I notice him throwing his spear towards me at a much faster velocity.

The next few seconds blur past me, jumbling up in my vision. The guy easily dodged the knife I threw as he stuffs the food down his vest, ready to sprint off after he witnesses my death. I'm going to die, I thought as the spear headed towards me, its shaft spiraling in a clockwise direction. It's a pretty neat spear I must say; it's carved so nicely…

_Clank. _The spear hits the ground and I looked up to find Danny panting. I then see my lifesaver – the hiking pack that Danny must've thrown to deflect the spear.

"That is my fiancé you son of a bitch!" Danny screamed, unsheathing his own sword and running in to fight him. At this point I'm still readjusting to the fact that I was still alive and as Vee followed after Danny to try serve as backup. I stumbled afterwards, still in a state of shock.

The District 8 boy started a head on brawl with Danny, slashing swords and spears together with each one barely missing one another. The boy's spear scraped Danny's forehead and his left cheek, with blood beginning to run down his face. Danny had managed to slice the boy's face with plenty of cuts too, but with no significant damage. Vee tried to interject by throwing things at the District 8 boy. These hardly had an effect on him though as he simply shrugged it off and continued to clash with Danny. Just before I could pull out a knife from inside my vest, the District 8 boy was disarmed when one of Vee's rocks hit the boy's spear. Danny smirked and knew it was his battle.

"Thanks Vee," he said, not taking his eyes off of the boy. The boy however began to throw punches at Danny, eventually disarming him too.

They both stared at each other, unknowing as to what to do. I threw my knife at the boy as it whizzes through, cutting through the air with precision. The boy barely maneuvered out of the way by jumping backwards but he falls over, bleeding.

This was a chance for Danny to finish him off. Danny ran over to him, his sword rose in one hand. And that's when I hear the scream.

I look in horror at where everything was taking place. The District 8 boy was looking up at Danny, horrified of the sight. He had seven or something knives stuck throughout his body, blood drenching his clothes. _God dammit!_ I raced towards Danny, not caring about anything. _A trap! _I felt tears running down my face. _I should've predicted that Wann wouldn't just be sitting around watching the action!_

Taking this opportunity, the District 8 boy fled, with Vee and I running to Danny's aid. I grab Danny and laid him down, his head craning to see me.

"Hey Jas." he said, smirking a little bit. "How do I look?"

I examined him. He had exactly nine knives stuck in his body – quite a few of them striking the main organs of the body. "You look fantastic." I muttered, trying to smile behind the quite evident cascade of tears streaming down my cheeks.

He pushes my hair out of my face and pulls my face in to kiss him. I kissed him back gently. "Hey, hey." I look at him with teary eyes. "Win this okay?"

"You're not going to leave me," I said frantically, trying to find something to heal his wounds. "You're not… we're supposed to get married remember?"

He laughed and holds his necklace pendant out. "We'll be fine. Alright? You'll be just fine. Take it." Danny got me to take his necklace off and put it around my neck as well. "Now you have both of them."

"I have something to tell you."

"I do to," he replied, staring at me. "But you first."

I patted my stomach and looked down. "I'm pregnant."

His face was startled at first but it slowly formed into a huge grin. "That's amazing." He smiled and reached out to touch my stomach. I guided his hand to lie on my flat stomach, his eyes lighting up. "Now we really will be together forever."

For the first time I was truly happy that I had this child. And now, I felt like I must protect them with every ounce of my aching body.

"What was it that you wanted to tell me?" I asked, smiling at my stomach.

"I knew you'd forget. You always forget these sorts of things." Danny laughed. "I don't exactly have a gift, but I guess our child is it. Happy four-year anniversary Jasmine. I love you."

His eyes began to close but I shook him frantically, trying to jolt something in his body to function again. "Danny, Danny! Don't leave me. Don't leave me please…"

"Still here. Not dead yet," he replied cheekily. "Not until that cannon sounds anyway. So tired. Just want to sleep right now…" His eyes began to close again but I kept shaking him.

"Don't sleep please! Stay with me. Promise you'll stay with me forever."

"I will. I promise. In here." He reaches down and puts a hand to my stomach. "Don't feed them too many green apples okay?" he laughed softly his eyes beginning to close.

I shook him, afraid to lose him. "Danny?" No reply. "Danny?"

Then the familiar boom of the cannon sounded.

* * *

><p><em>Sorry it's been awhile since my last proper update! It's just been super busy with only the last three months of senior year remaining, and I've been swarmed with homework and tests and the anxiety of upcoming exams!<em>

_Unfortunately I had planned this scene since the start and I've been dreading it! I LOVE Danny, and his character. ): But with four people remaining, who's it going to come down to? How's Jasmine going to handle all of this?_

_On a side note, this Friday it's a book character dress up day and I'm going to go as a tribute from THG! Since technically Jasmine is me, and I'm Jasmine, I'll upload a picture sometime of me in "tribute" clothing. It won't look like the things I described in this fanfic, but what Katniss and Peeta wore in the 74th Hunger Games. But I'm not going as Katniss since I look too Asian to be her (and plus there's going to be a heck of a lot of Katniss's at school this friday…)._

_Until next update! __**Please give me a review and tell me who your favourite character was! :)**_


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

The sound of the cannon rung through my ears, the colour of the world slowly being sucked away into nothing, as I lay there hopeless. The sound of his heartbeat was no longer there, his face as cold as ice even on a blistering hot summer's day. I slowly pulled the knives out, his vest soaking up more and more of his blood. I stared at his beautiful face with that small curve of a smile still faint on his lips. I pushed his hair back and held his hand. Feeling the ring still on his finger, I slowly slipped it off knowing that his ring would just be discarded along with his body if I didn't take it. So, I attached it onto his necklace and connected his and mine around my neck.

"Jasmine," Vee tried to whisper softly as if trying to approach a wild animal. "We should go."

"I'm not going to leave him." I cried stubbornly, hugging onto Danny's cold body.

"He's gone now, Jasmine. We're better off getting out of here if you want to survive. For him." Vee stood up and walked over to the banquet table plucking food from each plate and throwing it into our hiking bag.

"It's… it's all my fault he's dead." I cried, burying my face in my hands.

"How is it _your_ fault?"

"I threw that stupid knife that the District 8 boy jumped to avoid. The place that he jumped over is right where Danny fell into Wann's trap. If only… if only the District 8 boy had been the one to fall into that trap…"

"You didn't know about the trap did you?" Vee asked.

"No."

"Then it's not your fault. End of story." She paced around and looked up into the trees. "You can't blame yourself for his passing."

_His passing. _

I got up and looked down at him, lying so peacefully in the bed of grass. "Let me do one thing, please Vee." She nodded as I bent down to tidy him up a bit. I combed my fingers through his hair and fixed his clothes on neatly. When I was done, he looked like he had fallen asleep in the grass. "Alright," I said. "Let's go."

Vee slowly walked in front as I took one last glance at him – hoping to take a mental photograph – before heading out towards the stream.

The day passed slowly. The scene flashbacked countlessly in my mind, thinking of a billion and one different ways I could have prevented it and what we should've done differently. What did Shanty say? Why couldn't I ever remember these important things? Why was Danny the only one that remembered? And now he's gone… I'm left with no guidance. A silver parachute floated down and had gotten caught in a tree when Vee noticed it. She ran up to fetch it and when she got down she had already unwrapped it.

"A basket of sandwiches, some rice, stew and your favourite – green apples." Vee frowned and shook her head. "We were literally dying just two nights ago and when we just got food from our banquet you just give us more food? We're going to have a lot of spoiled food now." She shook her head yet again to the sky, presuming the cameras were there. "Thanks anyway."

Our rock cave back near the clearing provided us with a second home. The Cornucopia was no longer deemed safe and it only reminded me of Danny. Oh Danny…

Vee portioned our food and munched on some sandwiches. She handed me one but I didn't feel like eating. I pushed it away but she forced it onto me, shoving the sandwiches into my face. "You've got to eat, Jasmine." She tried to reason. "You need the energy. Plus you need to feed Danny Junior."

My hand instinctively flew to my stomach. "I never… never thought of a name for them."

Vee pondered for a little while before nodding. "I think you should name your child after Danny and yourself of course. Someone the world can remember you two by."

"I don't want my child to ever experience this crap." I could surely imagine the broadcasters editing that away right now. "I don't want anyone to touch them."

Vee smiled. "You're already acting like a mum."

"Well, aren't I?"

"How about Jammy?"

I cocked my head to the side. "What?"

"Jammy. You know, Jasmine, Danny… Jammy?"

"That's a girl-ish name though. What happens if it's a guy? Plus that's a super weird name."

"If it's a guy you can name your kid Dan. I know it was Danny's nickname, but mini Danny – Dan. It's perfect."

I smiled. "That's nice. I've always liked his name anyway. He won't mind me stealing half of it."

The sky dimmed and Vee ushered me into the tent. "I'll take watch tonight. We can alternate in the morning but I think you should sleep. It's been a rough day."

"Thanks."

"Goodnight Jas."

"Night."

"Jasmine? Hey, Jas." I opened my eyes to seek who was calling my name. "Jasmine. Right here." I turned around to see him, holding a green apple in one hand and pulling the cheesiest grin ever.

I walked over to him, ecstatic to see him. "Danny?"

"Who else would it be silly?" he laughed, ruffling up my hair.

"But… you-"

He held a finger to my lips and shushed me with utmost calmness. "I'm so proud of you Jasmine." He gently placed his hand on my stomach and rested it there. "I hope Dan grows up to be just like you."

"Dan?"

"Yeah. Didn't you want to name him Dan?" I nodded, confused. "I thought you might end up having twins since it runs in my family in all but I guess that didn't happen. It's a boy."

I stood there, trying to adjust to the pale figure in front of my eyes. So pale, yet so lifelike…

"Stay with me. We can be a family." I muttered.

"You know I can't do that Jas." I looked down, tears springing into my eyes.

"I'm scared Danny. I don't know what to do. I thought I knew everything there was to this, to everything… but after being here I don't know anything anymore. I thought I could figure out a way for us to get out of these Hunger Games together. I thought we'd be able to figure out a way to spend the rest of our lives together even though we both entered these Games. I was so ready to put my life on the line to win but I would trade it a thousand times over to make sure you wouldn't be reaped."

Danny pulled me into a firm embrace and all I could do was smother myself in his body. "Look. I would never let you do that. I want you to remember Jasmine, even through the hard times ahead – cause there definitely will be – I want you to promise me that you'll raise our child into a strong boy. I want you to promise to always be there for him, for all his milestones. I want you to look at him as _our _child. I need you to understand that you cannot lose yourself. You need to be strong. And remember, I will always be watching."

I look up at him and coughed in between my sobs. He hushed me.

"I must go now. Heaven awaits." With one last kiss he began to fade away.

"Don't leave me Danny!" I screamed, clutching onto my stomach. "I can't do this alone! I'm scared Danny…"

"Don't be," he chuckled. He gave me his last beaming smile and laid his hand on top of mine. "I love you. Remember that okay?"

I nodded and blinked out my tears. When I opened my eyes again, he was gone.

"Jasmine? Jas!"

"Danny… don't leave me… please…"

"Jasmine! Wake up!"

**Vee's POV**

It's been two days since Danny's death. Jasmine has been able to slowly accept the fact that he was gone. I was upset too, but I had to be strong for the both of us. I probably wouldn't have been able to make it this far if it weren't for them. Especially the deal with Arjun and Lakey. I was quite upset that he was gone too, and she had helped me through that. Although he was a jerk and all. Now it's my turn to return the favor.

"Hey Jas!" I beamed as I burst into the tent. She looked up at me with dull, grey eyes. Even so, she forced a smile. "It's freezing outside today!"

"Hey Vee."

I was surprised that the district 8 boy or Wann hadn't found us yet. We'd obviously be defeated easily the moment they enter these grounds. I'm not the best of fighters, although I can throw a spear okay-ishly. Out of us two, Jasmine is the better fighter and she is in no mental state to fight.

"Here's the food for today." I pushed some rice with stew and an apple for her to eat.

"Not hungry." She mumbled, looking away.

"You have to eat Jas! Dan isn't going to grow if you don't!" I laid a hand on her stomach and she shoved me off.

I frowned and as I did she burst out crying. "I'm so sorry Vee. You're the only one I have left and I'm pushing you away. You're trying to help me when you should just kill me. You'd have a chance of leaving this hell hole."

"No. We're friends remember? I would've been long gone if it weren't for you."

She smiled bleakly and tried to get some of the food into her stomach. Her stomach was still flat, but something was definitely growing in there.

We wouldn't be able to go anywhere today. I believed that the other tributes wouldn't be able to either as the snowstorm would be too risky to try anything. Especially since tracks are too easily noticeable and plus it was freezing outside. Luckily we had a tent that kept us warm. With time ticking away, I was anxiously awaiting for spring to come. Spring is a good season, I supposed. I could not think of a single natural disaster that was able to kill us.

By late afternoon, Jasmine finished her food and was wriggling about in the tent.

"Hey Vee!" she squealed.

I cocked an eyebrow at her. "Hi?"

"You're looking beautiful!"

_Is she drunk? _I wondered, watching her bounce around. "Thanks?"

"Don't be silly Vee! I bet you Dan would love you! Dan, say hi auntie Vee!" She patted her stomach and talked to it. _Yup, she's definitely drunk._

"Get to sleep, Jasmine." I said. "It's getting late."

"I'll stay on watch then!"

"It's alright. No one's going anywhere in this snowstorm." Wow, it's very unlike me to be this serious.

Jasmine went to bed after another hour, curled up around in the blanket. I snuggled up next to her, sharing the heat of our bodies.

Spring! Finally. Winter was bad on so many levels. I'm sure if we somehow dragged on another four days and cycled back to Winter again, the Gamemakers wouldn't make the mistake of doing a daylong snowstorm again. That would've been the most boring day of television ever! Unless of course, there had been a tribute braving the storm.

Jasmine woke up and complained about a headache that I couldn't help with. She was rubbing her temples with her fingers in a circular motion, with her eyes shut and concentrating on it diminishing.

"Nup, not working." She sighed, letting go of her temples. "Talk to me so I'm distracted from it."

"Well, uh…" I started, not really sure as to what to say. "How are you feeling today?"

"Better. Next question."

"Um…" I didn't know what question to ask that _didn't _consist of a flashback of Danny.

"Have you seen outside yet?" she asked. _Saved._

"No I haven't. You want to?"

"Yes! I haven't been out of this stinking tent for three days. I think some fresh air would be nice." Jasmine walked out and stretched, yawning in the process.

I followed her outside, looking at the beautiful scenery. The stream nearby was glistening, the clouds were fluffy and the wind was calm. "How's your headache now?"

"Thanks for reminding me. It's still a bitch."

My mouth formed an 'O' as I hiked up to the clearing. "Let's go there. Pick some green apples. You've eaten all of the ones we got sponsored."

Jasmine nodded, running up beside me and intertwining her fingers with mine. "Thanks for being such a good friend."

"No problem." I smiled, quickly running to the tent to grab a small bag that we could put the apples in.

"Ugh. I hate this headache…" she continued complaining, her hands retreating back to her temples and rubbing it again.

"Maybe there's a plant that we can find that can cure it." I pondered. Wait, there is one. "I think there's one… it's called Clemis. I don't know what it looks like though."

"Oh yeah. Clemis." Jasmine seemed to remember what it was. "I saw it when we were doing the plant education back in the training center. It was like an indigo sort of colour. Off purple. I don't know exactly. It looks like a rose as well. Not sure whether we'll find one though. I haven't seen any of them while we've been here."

I looked around but all I could see was rocks. "Maybe when we get to the clearing we'll see something. Maybe Clemis might not be there, but some sort of other plant that would be a good substitute for pain killers."

We made it up to the clearing but the green apple tree wasn't there. I was disappointed as that was why we always made our trips to the clearings. For the green apples. But instead, a patch of beautiful blooming flowers grew in its place. They grew like daisies, littering the center of the clearing with it. They were a bright purple and they looked like little roses. _Clemis. _I thought. The Gamemakers have replaced the apple tree – which we didn't _really _need, since we have plenty of food left over, for something to cure Jasmine's head.

I ran up to the flowers and plucked a few of them from the ground. I held them up to my nose when I heard Jasmine scream.

**Jasmine's POV**

"NO! Vee!" I screamed, looking at the flowers she was holding. They were purple, and rose looking but they weren't Clemis. I knew she wanted to get me it so it would cure my headache but those just wasn't the right flower. The horrible thing was that I forgot to add one tiny detail to my description of Clemis earlier: Clemis's stalks were elongated and the petals were large. This one was tiny, small and _deadly._

I ran up to her, taking a large breath before going in. I snatched the flowers out of her hands and threw them onto the ground. I dragged Vee across with all my strength to the other side of the clearing where I could breathe again. Vee's body began jittering, jumping up and down like an epileptic attack. Bubbles frothed from her mouth and her eyes were darkening.

"No, no Vee!" I cried, cradling her in my arms. "Don't. Not you too. Please." I felt the urge to give her water as a last resort to somehow cure her, but there wasn't an ounce of water in sight. The bottles we had were back at the cave.

I plucked a leaf from a tree that still had last night's dew hanging on it and let her lick it. I attempted CPR, trying to give her air. But nothing would make her body move.

"Vee…" I felt hopeless. Like I have been for the whole games. I've been such a show off and only caring about myself this whole time. If I didn't complain about my head, Vee wouldn't of tried to look for Clemis for me. She wouldn't of ran to that patch of flowers and taken a sniff…

Vee's breath was so shallow but she was still barely alive. With her last ounces of energy, she turned to face me and all she could do was smile. That was it. No words escaped her lips, no tears, nothing.

"…I'm sorry Vee. I was careless. I'm a horrible friend." I looked her eyes. It seemed as if clouds were shrouding over her vision. "It wasn't Clemis... it was Irringose…"

Salty tears ran down my cheeks and onto Vee's cold body. "Thank you. Thank you for everything." I whispered as the cannon boomed.

_No one left. _From our initial six, I was the only one left. I never thought it would only be me left in the final three. From the start, I thought I was going to have to strategically kill Ketch, or sneak my way around Jewel. Or figure out a way to get out of this mess with Danny and maybe Vee as well. We had gotten really close during this time. Out of our six, I think the only one that I never thought twice about was Arjun. He was hopeless from the start but I never thought that the others wouldn't make it.

Just me… me and a huge District 8 boy and smart Wann. Two polar opposite tributes, one was all brute strength and the other was all brains and no brawns.

For all the people I had promised… that I had promised to win, there was nothing driving me more now. For my parents. For Sera. For Vee. For Danny. And for Dan Junior, growing inside of me, oblivious to the outside world. If I could stay alive for him, the stories I would tell him.

After resting Vee down and tidying her up, I went back to the tent and packed up our things. I didn't need all the things we had. The tent could stay there. It's not winter for another three days and I could handle the fluctuating weather with the blanket itself. I shoved food into the pack as well as a two bottles of water. I tucked away my knives into my vest pockets as I lost the tridents during the number of natural disasters that had occurred. There may have been a few surviving tridents left in the logs that I've stashed them away in, but it was unlikely. I intended to check every spot though.

With everything packed, the hiking pack was still surprisingly light. I hoisted it up onto my back, clipping it and tightening it against my chest. I retied my shoelaces on my hiking boots – which were well worn in – and set off in the direction of the mountain to find Wann.

I had nothing left to lose.

_Let the bloodbath truly begin._

* * *

><p><strong>sdlfjwoehfiowbefowef! Just <strong>**_two _****chapters left! (Not including the epilogue!) I'm actually super excited! The finale is coming up, Jasmine with more drive and more anger within her. I'm sorry for knocking off like one tribute each chapter, but I'm actually more excited to write the epilogue than the finale, LOL. I'm going to be writing a mini sequel, like I have mentioned for the past 23987239124 chapters. **

**Is your favourite character still there? Who was/is it?**

**Rate and review!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

Avoiding the Cornucopia, I took the southern path towards the mountain. I knew Wann would still be hiding out there somewhere and I would just deal with the District 8 boy later. He was probably better at finding me than the other way around, so I let him do the searching while I tried to find Wann.

I was directly south of the Cornucopia when I noticed the clearing where I stashed away some of my tridents in the nearby logs. I checked all of them with no luck. They must've all been washed away in the flood. Sighing, I shrugged. I didn't expect anything anyway.

Luckily for me, I still had my original stash of knives – maybe a few less than the original number, but I still had around a good fifteen. I was confident in my accuracy, and that was all that I needed.

I continued due west on the southern path, beginning to notice a few familiar places. Although everywhere looked practically the same, some places sparked particular memories. The forest on the right was where we climbed trees to avoid the avalanche, and I believe the flood was in a similar location. I knew I wasn't far from the mountain now.

This path clearly led me straight to a clearing that was partially on the end of the mountain slope. The foliage behind it was thicker than the forest that surrounded the Cornucopia. The Gamemakers probably thought that it was a waste of time recreating the original forest before the number of natural disasters wiped them out.

That's when I heard a rustle. I halted in my tracks, trying to pinpoint the exact location of whoever or whatever it was. My eyes darted around, trying to look for any sign of abnormalities. I had one hand rested against my chest, clutching hard onto my largest serrated knife. Then, the District 8 boy jumped on top of me. He pinned me down, his two hands on mine and his knees painfully leaning on mine to make sure I didn't move. I had the knife in my hand, but I couldn't move it and neither could he.

"Hello there," he winked.

I had a proper look at him for the first time in the whole games. Blonde. Bright blue eyes with a sinister bloodshot feeling behind them. Even so, you could fit him into the 'handsome' category. He was well built for a guy that came from a District that manufactured clothing.

"Shame to kill a girl blossoming into womanhood." What the heck? Blossoming into womanhood? What king of garbage is he spurting? "Surprised you made it this far, actually. Thought Ketch would still be here but you must've killed him in his sleep or something."

"He died in the avalanche." I replied, just staring back at him. I refused to break his stare; it would just make me seem weak.

"Oh did he? Did you guys push him off a tree?"

"Can't you just accept the fact that everything in the Games comes as surprises?" I spat.

"True. I don't get why the other midget is here either. Me against two girls?" he gave a faint laugh. "Piece. Of. Cake."

This infuriated me. He thought that just because we were female we were weaker than he was. But how he was wrong. He had probably never witnessed Wann's cunning moves. I needed to find his weak point; I needed to find what would distract him so I could get out of his body lock.

"I've been watching you and the Careers you know that?" he smirked. "You were really off guard most of the time. Seemed as if you were fooling around rather than bloodthirstily killing everyone. Wouldn't that disappoint your mentors? You're the last remaining Career, supposed to uphold your legacy of ruling these Games."

"So what if we were having a little fun before we die?"

"Well, there's no harm in that I guess." He shrugged. "I'll grant you one last wish then before I kill you. You can have fun with _me._"

And that's when he lurched forward, licking his lips like I was a piece of meat. He held me down, aggressively kissing my neck. I struggled in his grasp but he had me pinned to the ground so hard it hurt. His right hand then freed my left when he tried to pull off my shirt but that's where he went wrong. Although my knife was in my right hand, I swung an uppercut to his chin, which sent him flying off of me. I pushed him to the ground. Oh how the tables had turned.

"What was it? Two girls? Piece. Of. Cake?" I teased his words back at him. He was about to move when I kicked his nuts, immobilizing him even further. "You dare say such sexist words and expect to get away from it? Remember I _am _a Career, girl or no girl."

I put a hand over my flat belly and looked at it briefly. He stared back at me, wincing from the pain. "I didn't mean to- I mean what I was going to say was…"

"-that you thought you were better than everyone else because we were _female_? That is probably the biggest insult I've ever heard. _Don't_ underestimate me."

"No, you don't understand! I need sponsors! I've gone without food for three days. They gave up on me after they looked past my physical build. I'm just genetically like this. My whole family look like they're all fed really well but we're not. We're poor. I need food. I need to look tough so I could get those sponsors so I can win and feed my family."

So all that was an act… I sighed in my head and rolled my eyes. "If you haven't heard already, I have a family of my own now." Then I snapped his neck.

After losing Danny and Vee, I lost the ability to feel sympathetic to people. All his sob stories, all his lies… they did not make me hesitate anymore. This is a _game, _a game of tactic and skill. If his confession was a tactic to make me hesitate killing him, my tactic was to kill him before I had a second thought.

Showdown time. It was time for me to find who I was looking for to begin with in this finale. Wann.

The arena was _huge, _and if I remembered correctly there were five clearings plus the clearing with the Cornucopia in it. To the far east the river divided the forest from the rocky area, and to the far west was contoured with a giant mountain to which Wann and Ryan seemed to be able to use to their advantage.

Three significant terrains, one vast area. How was I supposed to scout one tiny little scrawny Wann from all of this? I pushed forward to the mountain, towering up above everything else in the arena. I wanted more than anything for this to be over and done with. I didn't know how much longer I could last with little Dan growing inside my belly, having to feed two heads rather than one. I wondered what would happen to him if I died. Would they try to save him? Or would they let him die along with me? I shuddered at the thought and dismissed it from my mind.

The foliage here was much more thicker than at the foot of the mountain, unharmed by the damage created by the avalanche and the flood. The abundance in creatures was also more frightening, as if all the ones who were scared off by the previous natural disasters relocated here. They hissed at me and flapped their wings uncontrollably even though I moved silently. They could detect my presence even without the reliance of sound.

Trying to zone into some sort of sound that could belong to Wann, I stopped a couple of times to listen in for her footsteps as well as check around the area to figure out there were any traps placed around that I could fall into. There had only been a couple of traps of hers that I've witnessed in action but I wondered how many more of them she would have mastered.

There was a sudden whooshing noise that swept past me, hurtling a strong gust of wind that pushed me back slightly. The sudden movement startled me but I ignored it and continued to press on. But as I continued I felt like it was harder and harder to continue my trek through the mountain due to the birds that kept flying past me in the opposite direction. I reached for my knife, thinking of killing them but as they perched amongst the canopy above me one let out a shriveled cry.

"Jasmine. Jasmine." It screeched, calling me. I covered my ears with my hands and shut my eyes, trying to block out the sounds.

"Please…" I whimpered. "Please…" I felt like all my strength withered away as it reduced me into a crumpled heap onto the ground.

"Jasmine, shh. I'm still here. I'm right here next to you." I felt a lingering presence around me, but I knew it wasn't him.

"It's not you. It's not you." I repeated to myself, trying to reassure myself it wasn't him. He was gone; he died in front of my eyes.

"It's me, Jas." The voice was calm, so realistic. I slowly turned my head up to see a figure standing in front of me with a curved smile.

"Danny?" I whispered. I shook my head and shut my eyes again. "No, it's not you. It's a ploy from the Gamemakers. I know it."

"We're out of the Games Jasmine. We survived. _Together. _Dan and us can be a family. We'll raise him to be strong, just like you are. Come with me." He reached his hand out but I shook my head in denial. He's not real. They're just trying to get you killed. He's like some sort of hologram just to persuade you to go take the bait.

I slowly moved my head up again, just purely because I wanted to see him again. His beautiful green eyes gleamed back at me, begging me to take his outreached hand.

"Come on Jasmine. Your family is waiting for you." And as if just on cue, I heard the calls of my parents in the distance.

"Jasmine! Honey I'm so proud of you." My mother's voice called back towards the forest.

"Mum?"

"Yes it's me dear. Just-" and then she screamed. It echoed throughout the forest, the scream shuddering through my body.

"No…" I whimpered. "Please don't hurt her…"

Danny looked towards where my mum's voice was last heard. "Jasmine you've got to go. I think she's in trouble."

"She's not real. This isn't real. Mum's at home. Probably…" My voice was shaking, my body was shaking… "No, this is all a game. You're not real either."

The Danny frowned and knelt down next to me. His hand reached out to tuck a loose strand of hair behind my ear. I thought with him being a hologram and all, his hand would slip right through me. But it did exactly the opposite. His hand was warm on my cheek; his smile reassuring like it was before.

"Come on Jas, we need to go help your mum."

I nodded without hesitation, reaching out for his hand, wanting to believe it was real.

He led me over to the Cornucopia, hand in hand. I was entranced with the idea that he was still alive. That he was warm and his heart was beating. He looked better than he was in the arena for a fact. Maybe the doctors at the Capitol fixed his injuries that he had sustained in the Games. Maybe it wasn't true that they killed off every Tribute in the arena. Maybe they were just 'dead' in the Games and they were returned to the Capitol and just locked up forever? Maybe they use these so-called 'dead' Tributes again later to torment the winners.

When we arrived at the mouth of the Cornucopia, my mum wasn't in sight. Maybe I should've listened to my instincts. Maybe I should've believed harder that this couldn't be true. I didn't do anything to anger the Gamemakers. I didn't rig the Games. I didn't say anything bad about the Capitol – not that I remember anyway. All I did was find out I was pregnant with my boyfriend's child.

Danny laid his hand on my belly once more and grinned his cheesy smile that he wore when he won something. "We've got each other, remember?" he whispered and then pointed to the necklace that hung loosely around my neck. And as he took a step back, it was like déjà vu all over again.

Knives stabbed themselves into his body, piercing every main organ that any regular human being needed to survive. I shouted again, aching from seeing the same scenario play out twice. Why? Why did they have to remind me of something that I tried to push so far back into my mind? I crumpled to the floor again, feeling utterly useless. Twice. I couldn't save him twice. I watched as his body then shriveled away and then faded like a hologram like I had initially thought.

I couldn't fathom why they would do this to me. Where was Wann? Were they rigging her win? I was so shaken up by the whole ordeal it took every ounce of energy in me to muster up the power to stand.

I stumbled a bit but remembered to stand my ground. Any step I took had to be with the upmost care and certainty. This place could be a minefield for all I know with Wann's knowledge. Heck, the platforms that we stood on when the Games started were rigged with mines. I was scared that whatever I did, I could be killed instantaneously, bringing poor innocent Dan along with me.

Every step I took out of the Cornucopia took so much time that it felt like hours before I could even reach the end of the clearing. But before I even got out of there, I heard Wann.

Her voice was ever so faint but taunting. I could see her just standing next to the Cornucopia just next to where Danny died… twice.

Something was up. She wasn't the type to stand out in the open for someone like me to just kill her. It was definitely a trap. I stood still in the same spot, watching Wann smirk crazily from the other side.

"Why don't you come get me?" she teased, yawning slightly just to try throwing me off.

_She _was the one that killed Danny. Anger flared inside of me, but I tried to suppress it.

"Why don't you get me?" I teased back, trying to be composed.

"Because you know I'm not capable of killing you. I'm this scrawny, weak little kid that doesn't know the first thing about killing anyone."

Lies. I thought. She was perfectly capable of killing anyone if she tried. She just wanted me to step towards her…

I refused to give in. "Fine, have it your way. I'm perfectly capable of killing you from this distance anyway." I hastily unsheathed my knife from my vest and threw it towards her with great velocity.

This was almost too easy, I thought. She couldn't just stand there and watch the knife drive into her own heart right? And just as I guessed it, my knife whizzed through the air, slicing it but suddenly it hit a wall of some sort.

"You can't hit me. From that distance anyway." She yawned. Then I could see it underneath the sunlight. It was many little plastic sheets that were all interlocked together to create the perfect barrier to my attacks. Dang it!

She stood practically behind that sheet of plastic so whatever I did in this spot I wouldn't be able to hit her. I couldn't move, knowing that there were probably some other traps hidden around the clearing.

The weather wasn't helping either. Being a summer day and being accelerated by Gamemaker abilities, the heat was scorching me. It drained the energy out of me with every move I took.

But I could tell it was having an effect on Wann too. She began to pant and sweat after a long staring contest between us, both trying to figure out how to kill the other strategically. We were both quite informed about the other tribute's skills having witnessed them beforehand. That's what made it harder.

I kept examining her. Her stance, her gaze, whether or not she had weapons on her. I had to devise some sort of plan to get around this.

If only Danny was here now. He was good at this stuff. He was good at thinking on how to get the things he wanted but he was composed and always had this poker face on all the time. How could I ever think the way he did? I was all the brawns, he was the brains. Funny how it worked out. But don't get me wrong, he wore the pants in the relationship – I just had that tough girl attitude playing up the whole time.

Wann seemed to be examining me as well. Her eyes were fixated on mine trying to read through me. I had to be the one to make the first move, or else I'd be a goner. Who knows what she could unleash?

I refused to break my stare but I needed to somehow be able to hit her without hitting the plastic sheets. Knives cannot fly and curve in midair, so I needed to get a clear shot.

_That's it!_

I stayed in the same position but grabbed my knife. My choice was specific – it was long and pointed with a nice serrated edge to it. Wann noticed me pull it out but she just smirked.

"Pulling the same tricks on me are you? It's not going to work." She laughed.

I ignored her, and instead focused on my aim. I never usually did this, but it was a gamble.

So when I was ready, I threw it.

* * *

><p>Hey guys! I finally finished my exams so now I can finish writing this! I'm so excited to finish this! I hope you enjoyed the chapter, it was surprisingly shorter than my usual but I hope you enjoyed it nevertheless. :)<p>

Rate and review!


	14. Chapter 14 - FINAL

**Chapter Fourteen**

It was such a hot day. The heat bounced off my black hair as the warm wind caressed my face. I breathed heavily as the events in front of me played out in slow motion.

My knife was thrown at a high angle, curving right after the shimmer of plastic sheets. Wann could see what was happening, but she didn't dare to move. She must've placed traps all around her, expecting me to do a head-on attack. Checkmate.

The knife peaked and then fell down with great velocity and skewered itself right into Wann's head. The speed must've enabled it to even pierce through her skull.

Wann stood dazed momentarily before her eyes rolled to the back of her head. She then fell backwards which like I had guessed – set one of her traps off. It was the same trap that had killed Danny – nine knives driving themselves deep into the main organs of her body. Luckily I had considered that. The cannon made its final boom for the year and I all I did was stand there dazed at what had just taken place.

I want to collapse on the ground in exhaustion. I wanted to jump and down in pure joy. I wanted to do so much, but from where I was and the underlying fact that Wann may have still some active traps surrounding me, I still felt trapped.

Trapped in the Games the moment I was reaped.

A helicopter hovered loudly overhead and as the voice of Claudius Templesmith boomed across the now empty arena. "Ladies and Gentlemen, the victor of the 71st annual Hunger Games goes to… Jasmine Kouch!"

A ladder dropped before me as I gripped it tightly with my right hand, pulling my body upwards. Freedom. Free from this hellhole…

I had awoken with a sigh on an examination bed in what appeared to be a hospital in the Capitol. I scanned my eyes around the foreign place. The place was coated with blinding white, the walls, the beds, and the pillows… I was too tired to complain or question my whereabouts, not even knowing how long I had slept for. Finally, Liore's face came into view.

"Hiya darling!" he squealed, clasping his two hands together. "I'm glad you made it. I've been routing for you this entire time!"

He was as tall as I last remembered, but his hair was dyed bright red instead of his tints of blue dye from the first time I saw him. It really opposed to his crystal blue eyes that still gleamed like glass.

"Where am I…?" I muttered, battering my eyes slightly.

He grinned and patted my shoulders. "They took you to the hospital to examine your wounds and your baby!" he squealed again. "First time in Hunger Games history we had a baby involved! So much drama! It was amazing!"

Typical fan girl. I ignored him and looked at myself. All my blemishes had disappeared and any cuts or bruises I sustained were covered up or healed. A doctor walked in casually and asked for Liore to leave.

"I'll see you when we prep for your interview!" he hollered through the halls when a doctor shushed him on his departure from the hospital.

The doctor scanned me up and down once again and nodded. "Congratulations on your win Miss. Kouch. It was most certainly impressive." He acted very composed, checking a holographic computer for what I assumed to be my medical report. "Alright so, you sustained minor cuts and bruises except for some internal damage to your lungs and your arteries on your thighs."

Internal damage? When the hell did I get that? And wouldn't I have known? Ah wait. District 8 boy, that bastard.

"The internal damage is nothing to worry about. It will heal in time. Also, you are about four weeks pregnant. The baby is well and healthy, but we cannot determine gender as of yet."

"It's a boy." I muttered.

"It is almost impossible to tell at this point Miss. Kouch. You may want to be ready for a Danielle instead of a Dan."

I scoffed at his back when he left. How would he know anyway? Doctors in the Capitol are nothing but absent-minded people who think reading a book would give them a degree. The technology did all the talking.

I was discharged from the hospital that afternoon. I didn't know what awaited me. What was I to do now? I paced around the room slowly, remembering what had happened.

Danny is dead.

I patted my stomach and clutched onto my necklace. He was gone, never to return.

I returned to the nostalgia of level four; the level that we had stayed on before the Games. I walked around the place, remembering exactly where Danny and I sat together. Kissed. Created little Dan.

"Miss him?" A familiar voice called from across the room. I turned around to see Finnick leaning up against the doorframe.

"So much." I frowned.

"Congratulations on your expectancy though." He walked over and patted my stomach.

"Thanks." I sighed and sat down on the couch to comfort myself. He seated himself next to me and I leaned on his shoulder.

"You can cry you know." He whispered. "You've been so strong this whole time."

I snuggled up against him and let it out. Tears streamed down my cheeks until my eyes felt puffy and red.

That afternoon Liore prepped me for my interview, showing me a carefully sketched dress on his drawing pad and awaited my approval before putting it through his machine. It was an elegant white cocktail dress that shimmered with small clear sequins. I honestly didn't care what I wore anymore, so I just nodded and tried it on for size.

"Just remember Jasmine. Do what you do best." He whispered to me.

"What do I do best?" I asked.

"Just be yourself." He smiled and then ushered me out on stage.

Caesar Flickerman seated me down in front of the crowded excited fans I seemed to have gained during the course of my time in the arena. I sat there dazed, wishing Danny were next to me holding my hand. I wanted anything but to be here so long as I was with him. The Capitol citizens all looked so bizarre in their array of coloured outfits and strange accessories that added to their attire. I sat in my little chair, wiggling myself into its comfort after so much time spent in the arena.

Caesar flicked his head towards me dramatically when it was his cue and as usual, he flashed his famous smile across the cheering audience. He himself seated himself down opposite me.

"Good afternoon Jasmine." He began, smiling.

I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out.

"Three long weeks in the arena, how are you feeling?" he pushed on, holding that smile.

I choked but I managed to force a few words out. "Like crap." I said blatantly. "I feel like I've lost more than I've won." I felt tears spring into my eyes.

Caesar frowned. "You still have Dan, do you not?"

I looked at my belly – obviously since it was at its early stages, it was still flat. I bleakly smiled. "He is the only good thing that came out of this mess."

But because of that mess, he would grow up without a father.

The interview passed by with my mind pondering of the future. I was going to see my family again, something I yearned for since the start. How was all of it going to play out? Was I going to run into their arms? Or would they look foreign to me and just as bleak and colorless as the world I saw in front of me?

One step at a time, I guessed. I was going to take it as it came.

Rierri Locksloph came into view when it was her duty to escort me back to District 4. She obviously felt guilty for all the times she tried to pull Danny and I apart during our stay in the Capitol now that he was gone. It was just me now. I never expected to come back so depressed. I was the hero. District 4 has yet another winner. I helped maintain that status. That's what I was initially going to volunteer for the Hunger Games for, right?

Wrong. All those ideas, that mindset… it came rushing back at me and smacked me like a ton of bricks. Fate, something I always thought played a big part in life, guided me to a dark corner of my own mind. I felt trapped and fearful of what was to come next.

Rierri's screechy voice snapped me back to reality. Not that I wanted to be there anyway. She mumbled about the Victory Tour that was to be held in six months – smack bang between the annual Games just to remind everyone about all the pain and suffering even more frequently than they already did.

"You will be notified by phone a fortnight before departure on your tour. Your house is already built and ready for you in the Victor's village. Your family has also been relocated and has already spent their first night there."

I nodded the whole way through, not really caring. Fancy house, yeah, yeah. My family was well off anyway and we didn't need the money. It's not like my father isn't going to stop fishing or being his happy old self in the fish market.

I sighed as I watched the blur outside the window. Things were going to be tough. Tougher than what presented itself in the Games. Except this time, I would be facing them all alone.

* * *

><p>…and that's that! Finished my first EVER novel. Geez it feels good! I'm going to upload some character refs and ideas right after so yeah. :) I hope you guys enjoyed it and I hope you follow my user hangingwillow for the short sequel! :)<p> 


	15. Character and Scene References

**Character and Scene references to my personal life:**

**Character name: **person's name in my life

Description of the reference

**Jasmine: **Jasmine

Unlike most other mainstream protagonist females, Jasmine is a strong-willed but very level headed character. She trained for the games ever since she was eight, under the influence of her idol Shanty. She knows how to make the most out of particular situations but pride sometime can be something that overrides her senses although she herself doesn't realize. She can also be really stubborn.

Jasmine is based off oh, let's see. Me! In real life I can be like this character a lot, teasing and playful. Sometimes I don't see the seriousness in things and sometimes I think too seriously when it's not required. I'm very open, and I'm not really hesitant to approach people. Unless they look creepy and I'm scared of them, of course. However, the internal monologue is an overdramatized version of what I think in particular situations. It is mentioned in the story that I like singing- which is completely true. My family thinks I'm horrible at it though. My brother's the one that tells me to shut up by singing the same thing only ten times worse. He still thinks he's better than me. I'm also pretty damn competitive, just like Jasmine in the story.

**Danny: **Danny

Danny is the protagonist's boyfriend in the fanfic and is very joking and lovable. He can be corny at times and tries to lighten the situation many times throughout the story. Along with Jasmine, he's from District 4 and becomes a part of the career alliance. Unlike Jasmine, he did not train for the games but he had a knack for survival skills and throwing spears. He's obviously not perfect, but as Jasmine describes him: "It's good enough to stop me from protecting his sweet ass." Sadly, I'm getting too attached to this character.

Last year I studied year 12 Accounting in year 11 and this boy named Danny was in my class- whom I thought was rather cute. He was in the year above me so I obviously didn't know him and the only words I ever said to him in that whole year was: "You have a spider in your hair". This year, he repeated his senior year and ended up in my English class, so I made an effort to be friends with him. I later found out he's a close friend of my cousin, which I found was pretty coincidental. I'm not particularly close with Danny, so the whole Danny character is actually not related to real-life Danny. I simply borrowed his name.

When I look back at the story nowadays (updated this while writing Chapter 10) I feel utterly embarrassed with the choice of putting my name and his name in here. We had laptops in class once to research news articles and I was showing my friend Prashanti (Shanty in the story) and he asked to read the story. I was so embarrassed because it had his name in it! I was scared that he would read "Danny has been my boyfriend…" ARGHHHSDHFOIEWHFIOWEFWFB! He gave up reading it though. He said it was too long and he couldn't be bothered. (Sigh of relief!) But I still think he read it… oh my gosh that's so embarrassing! I can't look at him the same way anymore! He doesn't realize that I only used his name, and I actually don't imagine him when I write this. I imagine a superficial hunky Danny. :D

**Shanty (Shan-tee): **Prashanti (Pra-shan-tee)

In the fanfic, Shanty is Jasmine's mentor. Stated as a person lacking in physical strength, but won her games because of her smarts, she is the reason why Jasmine trained for the games to begin with since her speech at Jasmine's school when she was only eight. Shanty was described as a person who was proud to be a victor, not one overwhelmed with nightmares from the games or a person that was toyed by the Capitol. She was a person who plowed through all the bad, and only saw good in the light of the events that had occurred in her life. However, Shanty is very direct and would often state facts no matter the affect it could possibly have and would usually give advice in a "tough love" sort of manner.  
>In real life, I've known Prashanti since moving into her form class in year 9, and we were in the same class in year 10 too; ended up in the same Biology class in year 11 and she is now in my English class in year 12. She is one of the most humble and considerate people I've ever met. She is easygoing and you can talk about anything to her. She is like Shanty in the sense of optimism, but when it comes to delivering bad news she tries to soften it down before saying anything.<p>

**Sandh (Sand-dah): **Asanda (As-sand-dah)

Sandh is one of the victors of District 4, and is the one that initially suggests for Danny and Jasmine to choose two victors to be mentors rather than all seven whom were present. From the little dialogue he's actually given, you can make out that he's a very formal type of person as he's described with 'butler type features'.

Asanda is a good friend of mine from school. We actually haven't had any classes together, but I was introduced to him through a friend in year 10- when he initially transferred to my school. We tease each other a lot and we have these mini poke wars during school which sadly, we continue on facebook when we get home. He's in no relation to his character as he doesn't speak like that (not to me anyway) and he laughs a lot.

**Sera (Sarah): **Cheryl

Although not a main character, Sera is frequently mentioned in the games by Jasmine. She is described to be Jasmine's best friend and a compassionate and caring person.

Cheryl is Vy Vy and I's really close friend. She is described by my other close friend Phuong (who is Vy Vy's cousin) as a 'Mother Teresa' to so many people, giving advice and simply being a good friend to everyone. Everyone wants to be her friend. Like Jasmine, I met Cheryl in year eight but got moved into her class in year nine.

**Jewel (District 1): **Julie

Jewel is described to be a very skilled swordsman. She's also a bit girly, but very strategic and witty.

This character is in reference to Julie- my mum. My mum is a very playful and joking sort of person, and funnily acts much younger than she is. Frankly, she's actually more immature than I am. The name Jewel is from my mum's love for jewelry and she _actually _wanted to be named Jewel… District 1 is a very fitting place for my mum because my mum loves the luxury items and wants to live like a queen one day (sorry mum that's never going to happen). When I asked my mum what she wanted her skills to be she said: "I can fly and do the flurry of sword attacks!" She clearly watches too many old Asian movies.

**Vee (District 2): **Vy Vy (Vee-Vee)

Vee is a strong headed character. In the story, she is constantly chased by Arjun before the games but when she gets reaped she tries to push away the feelings she began to develop for him. When you first meet her, she's already beginning to give into her love for him only to be hurt by his betrayal later on. She is described to be a very cute character, bubbly and hard working.

Vy Vy is one of the closest friends I have in my life. She is such a girly girl who loves shopping, and is happy all the time. I have tried to keep her character in line with her real-life personality as much as possible. As much as I wish this was fictional, Arjun was a guy whom did in fact tried so hard to get Vy Vy's love, and the moment she did start falling for him he stops talking to her and ends up dating another girl- completely crushing her heart.

**Arjun (Ah-jun) (District 2): **Arjun

In the story, Arjun is a very handsome guy who is someone you can easily fall in love with. He makes no mistakes in flirting, as he is a complete romantic and corny to the max. However, when he believes that he had won the competition, he moves onto another girl.

I have never met Arjun personally in real life, but I have seen photos and heard stories about him from Vy Vy and several others that know him. I completely despise this guy for what he did to Vy Vy. If I ever meet him, I will smash his face in. From what I make out from his personality, he is a playboy. So it sounds pretty fitting to make him someone you can fall in love with but then when he leaves you it hurts you to bits. I'm going to give him some indirect bashing and let it out on character Arjun until I meet the real-life him.

**Ketch (District 1): **Ash Ketchum (Pokémon) / Cato

Ketch is a very brutal, selfish guy who thinks about himself and his ideals only. He is very similar to Cato in the actual Hunger Games, only smarter and less ruthless.

This character is not based off anyone I know, but rather his name is stolen from Ash Ketchum from Pokémon, borrowing the first part of his last name and Cato's personality, only slightly altered.

**Ryan (District 3): **Ryan

Probably one of the most technically apt people you will ever read about in any version of the hunger games, Ryan is not so much a physically capable sort of guy, and as he is described he seems weak and easily breakable. However, in the arena he manages to pull off a game changing feat after hacking into the game makers control data on the second day at the training centre.

This character is based off my brother who is three and a half years younger than I am. He is short, young, annoying, yet lovable. His knowledge of computers is beyond his age, which he uses to irritate me on a frequent basis. Once, he hacked into my computer to create this program that shut my computer down 30 seconds upon booting it. I couldn't shut the program down in any way possible except for one key command that I would have to type into the command prompt. So, many shut downs later I would storm into my brother's bedroom and request he'd type the code in. I was pretty cheesed off about it.

**Wann (District 3): **Bi Wan (Be-wah-un)

Wann is the smart, agile character in this fanfic. She primarily uses traps as her main weapon and kills many with them. Although it unknown until the very end, apart from the Careers and Ryan's hacks, she had the most kills. In Chapter 5 after the bloodbath, you find the Careers stumped because they know they didn't kill one of the people that appeared in the sky that night. Wann was the one that killed them. Also, on the second day – the guy that Danny was close to (District 10) was killed by another one of Wann's traps. Not to mention she also kills Danny at the feast.

Bi Wan is my friend's younger sister who is in my brother's year level. My brother had a crush on her since year 4, and they're in year 8 now! I'm not sure whether he still likes her in that way, but its puppy love either way. My family likes to tease him about her a lot and we tell him to eat more because he's a head shorter than her. Hahahahaha! Bi Wan is a very kind person in real life, very polite and really cute.

**Lakey (Lah-kki) (District 9): **I don't actually know her real name, but it's pronounced somewhat similar?

Mostly named 'the girl from district 9', Lakey is the girl Arjun consistently sneaks out to see, despite knowing that Jasmine and Danny would probably never forgive him. This is because Vee, the girl he had pursued back in District 2 finally returned his love in the games. It is supposed that Arjun had told Lakey of his two-timing but she brushes it off easily, thinking that she was superior enough to hypnotize a guy so much that he would betray the Careers. We are always uncertain as to whether she is actually in love with Arjun or simply using him for the games. Lakey is a skilled hunter, as shown when she presents to Arjun her own hand weaved netting containing dead animals.

I don't actually know the girl in real life, just like Arjun, but I've seen one photo of her. She's not pretty in my eyes, and she's the girl that Arjun ends up dating. I later found out that Arjun – the cool playboy guy, gets heartbroken for the first time because she broke up with him after only a few months.

**Finnick: **Finnick (original Hunger Games)

The reason why I actually chose to be in District 4 was because of this guy. I LOVE FINNICK OMGOMGMOMGOMGOMGOMG! I seriously stalk the web to find out who's going to play him in catching fire. He's meant to be Danny's mentor (I chose that purposefully) and maybe in some sort of alternate dimension, I'll marry this guy.

**The Gamemakers mentioned in Chapter Eight **

**Rebecca: **Mutts design specialist – programs team

**Jacqui: **Juliae Casher's assistant

**Chapman: **Operator who discovered the hacking – programs team

**Ananya (Ah-nai-yah): **Controlled disasters specialist – programs team

**Will: **Operations specialist – programs team

**Uvini (Yu-vee-nee): **General Programmer, in charge of security – programs team

These six people are all great friends of mine. Rebecca and I are jamming buddies as she teaches me how to play the acoustic guitar and we sing a lot together along with Cheryl (Sera). We also share a maths class together. Will is the best friend of my best guy friend and is also in the same maths class as Rebecca and I. Ananya, Jacqui and Uvini are close friends as we have been in the same classes together at some stage in high school and we always hang out during recess and lunchtimes. Chapman and I are friends from waaaaay back, starting from year 5, where he was a new student in my class. From year 10, we started walking together to school since we live close by and in year 11 we participated in our school's Debutante Ball. Just a note: none of the people's personalities are actually taken from real life; I've just taken their names.

**The Necklace**

I actually have these, but they're keychains, not necklaces. When my family and I went to Hong Kong for a holiday, we took a day trip into China to this cultural museum where they sold keychains of all sorts. After bargaining with the woman who ran the store (cause I'm Asian and all) she gave me a good enough deal to buy plenty of different keychains – one of which was of two characters: 女 (female) and 子 (male). When you put these two characters together, they make 好, which means 'good'. My little brother gave the female character to Bi Wan (Wann in the story) because he has a crush on her. Aww, puppy love.

**Reasons for Choosing District 4**

My family has a hobby of going fishing together. Last year we went on several fishing trips, catching next to nothing after every trip. So we're a bit like Sera's father and his bad luck. Also, like mentioned above – FINNICK IS IN DISTRICT 4!

**Relationship between Jasmine and her father**

This relationship is just like my relationship with my father- we're both competitive and we both like making ridiculous bets. One time, my dad bet that I couldn't read _Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire _within a month (this was back when I was 10ish) and I won a pet dog because of this. Sadly, she ran away on my birthday the following year. Back when I was 12, my dad bet that I couldn't hit 80m with a chipper (golf on the driving range) and he still owes me a pet turtle to this day.

Only last year, I bet with him that my mum and brother (who we were waiting for outside the supermarket) would buy chips- the reason being my mum and my brother both love junk food as ironic as that sounds. To my dismay, the one day they choose to not buy chips is when I bet that I would wash the dishes (which I must note is my least favourite chore) _after _steam boat (hot pot) – meaning that there are a heck of a lot of dishes to wash.

**The Seven-Note Knock**

When my brother and I were younger, he would always get home from primary school – which was only two minutes away – before me, who had to walk thirty minutes from high school home. Since we were both still young and our parents were out at work, I always gave this seven-note knock on his window signaling that I was home and for him to open up the door for me. This was efficient as he didn't have to look out the window to find out who it was, or end up opening the door to a complete stranger.

**The Fashion Machine**

This machine that Liore uses in Chapter 2 is my imaginative creation because of my annoyance with sewing machines. I know how to make clothes and all, but last time I tried to make a doll with the sewing machine the string kept getting all stuck at the bottom and I would have to take apart the whole mechanics down the bottom, take it out, restring it back in place only for it to mess up again. If only making things were as easy as scanning a drawing through a machine.

**The scene with Danny and Jasmine talking about Arjun and Vee in Jasmine's room at the Capitol pre-games**

When Danny and Jasmine have this really funny conversation about Arjun and Vee's relationship, Jasmine states the obvious – which is what I tend to do a lot. Not only that, after Danny teases Jasmine about it, she retorts back seriously. People have often told me I take things too seriously sometimes, even though I'm usually really immature. I happen to only be like this when people say things seriously, but I don't see the sarcasm.

Also, my mum used to tickle me a lot as a child, and my only escape route was to roll off of the bed. It hurt, but not as much as the tickling. I'm very ticklish you see.

**The Landscape of the Arena**

For eight years of my life – from mid 2002 through to the end of 2009, I was part of the Scouts Australia association. It was probably the most adventurous time in my life whenever we went on camp to different places, and I remember seeing many little campsites around everywhere. I had a really vivid dream the night I was almost done writing Chapter 4 (the chapter before the games begin) and it was of me, throwing knives around like a crazy person. I actually killed everyone in the bloodbath instead of half doing it like it was written in the story. It was exactly as I had described – a clearing with lots of crunchy leaves, lots of foliage etc.

Also, in 2010 I went on a twenty-one day hike named 'Summit 2 Sea', because it was _literally _trekking to the summit of the tallest mountain in Australia which is situated in a state called Sydney, hiking back down it and through bush land crossing the border back to Victoria – the state I reside in – swapping from hiking to rafting halfway through and rafted all the way down the snowy river to Bass Strait; the part of the sea that divides Victoria and Australia's off land state, Tasmania. It was a tiring, 370km journey. Some of the things I saw during this trip were implemented as ideas into the arena. During this trip I had a dark blue hiking pack, like Jasmine's in the arena.

**The Four Seasons Idea in the Arena**

In Melbourne, we like to call our state "Four Seasons in a day" because of the ever changing weather patterns. It can be hailing in the morning but by afternoon the sun would be beating down on us, forcing us to wear minimal clothing.

In the arena, I did think of splitting the day to a literal "Four seasons in a day" but I thought that it would get too messy and the tributes would figure out the pattern way too fast. I thought that instead of only having 6 hours of a particular season a day, a whole 24 hours would be long enough to get extreme and allow for things to get disastrous.

**Patrolling on the Second Night in the Arena**

On the second night, Danny and Jasmine are up on the Cornucopia trying to get their minds off of the cold. Firstly, the joke that Danny tells about the rich and poor man of the Capitol and the tooth fairy is one that my friend told me about the day I wrote that part of the story. The real version is: "A rich doctor, a poor doctor and a tooth fairy are walking together and they stumble across $50. One of them has to pick it up. Who picks it up?" Like Jasmine, I said the tooth fairy did, but the answer ultimately was the rich doctor because a poor doctor doesn't exist.

The 'would you rather' game came from a book I read from the 'Just' series by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton. I used to ask my mum 'would you rather save my brother or I if we were stuck on either side of a burning caravan and you had only time to save one of us?' Though, my mum is smart and said she'd only save herself.

The other game Danny and Jasmine played was the game with the fruits and vegetables. At scouts, we used to play a game with the same rules but usually about country names. Like America or Austria etc. I remember having to think up of a thousand countries beginning with 'A' because the countries we always came across ended with A's.

**The story about how Jasmine and Danny got together**

Back in year 7, one of my classmates named Dennis had friends who would always tease him about me. Yeah, I wasn't anything special and he wasn't good looking at the time either (he's styled himself up and everything now) but despite being teased and everything, he asked me out at the end of year seven. He moved class (unlike Jasmine who moved class in the story) and we tried to retain a relationship around his new circle of popular friends. I was friends with most of the guys but some big drama brewed because my best friend lied to me saying that he was cheating on me with another girl in their class (because my best friend and Dennis were in the same class at the time). I believed my best friend over my boyfriend, and so we broke up under those circumstances. I later found out that my best friend also had a crush on my ex. To this day, he was my first and only boyfriend.

In the story however, it's quite the opposite of my story. Jasmine made a best friend out of moving classes, and Danny was already in the popular circle of friends beforehand. This story is the happier ending of my story, with them retaining their relationship since the start.

**Jasmine's Love for Green Apples**

A lot of people think I'm weird, but I'm a big fan of sour food compared to sweet food. Sure, I love sweet foods as well (I like it after sourness) but in apples, I love green apples the most (Granny Smith Apples ftw!).

**Ryan's Hacking**

My brother thought it'd be pretty cool to hack into the Gamemakers system and rig something of his own. So, thinking that it was actually something I could work into the fanfic, it became my answer to how Ketch – the tribute that I thought from the start would be the toughest one to beat – would meet his end.

My mum (whose character is Jewel) and my brother both argued over dinner about who should kill who. I thought it was pretty funny, because my initial thought was to kill Jewel in the avalanche but my mum wouldn't allow it so she ended up killing my brother instead. She was pretty satisfied, commenting "I'm too pro for you."

**The Hailstorm**

The hailstorm in Chapter 10 is described to be "tennis ball sized" – this actually happened down in my state around two years ago, which caused significant damage to cars, houses and buildings. The ice was HUGE, and I happened to be in a car with my family on the freeway to the airport that day to go to my cousin's wedding.

**The significance of Danny's death date**

When Danny dies, he mentioned that it was Jasmine and his four year anniversary on that day. In Cantonese, 'four' is pronounced the same as 'death'. That's the reason why in China 'four' is deemed an unlucky number and is usually never found on house numbers or something that's going to stick with the person for a long time.


	16. Sequel - It Led Me To You

Dear my beloved readers,

The first chapter for the sequel of "This is My Fate" is up and posted! I hope you guys will continue to love and support my fanfic the way you have for these many months.

The sequel, "It Led Me to You" follows Jasmine three years after being crowned victor of the 71st Hunger Games and the hurdle she faces when she comes to terms with her loss of her boyfriend Danny. Also want to know what happened to her baby? Read to find out! :)

s/9029876/1/It-Led-Me-to-You

Thank you guys for your continuous support. Without you, I will not have been able to finish my first ever novel - EVER. I hope you can review and follow the new sequel for more!

Much love,

Jas


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